Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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897. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if moneys paid through the HAP scheme and homeless HAP scheme is considered as means or income for the purpose of calculating eligibility for civil legal advice and legal aid; the suggested recourse for a person who has been denied civil legal advice or a representative due to the fact he or she has accessed housing supports through HAP or the homeless HAP scheme and is left in a precarious situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15859/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Legal Aid Board provides legal advice and aid under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 (“the Act”) and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996-2017 (“the Regulations”). The Board delivers these services through directly employed solicitors in its network of law centres around the country and private solicitors from its private practitioner panels.

Section 3(3) of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 provides that the Legal Aid Board shall, subject to the provisions of the Act, be independent in the exercise of its functions. To be of assistance to the Deputy, however, I have had enquiries made with the Legal Aid Board and am advised as follows:

Applicants for legal aid must meet the financial eligibility criteria under section 29 of the Act and the Regulations. This provides that their disposable income (less certain allowances) must be below €18,000 and their disposable capital (less certain allowances and excluding the value of the home in which they live) must be below €100,000.

The Regulations make detailed provision for what is to be taken into account as income. In particular, Regulation 13(8) provides that:

““income", in relation to an applicant, means the income which he or she may reasonably expect to receive from all sources...”

The effect of Regulation 13(8) is effectively that all income an applicant receives from whatever source must be taken into account unless it is specifically excluded. In addition Regulations 15(1)(e) states as follows:

“Subject to paragraph (8) of Regulation 13 and paragraph (6) of Regulation 16, 'income' shall include_

(e) the value of other benefits or privileges including the value of free or partly free board...”

Taking into account the above Regulations and in the absence of any provision specifically excluding Housing Assistance Payment as income, the Legal Aid Board is required to take Housing Assistance Payment (including Homeless HAP) into account as a form of income.

Any applicant who is aggrieved by any decision of the Board is entitled to seek an internal review of the decision within one month of the date of the decision and to submit further information in support of such a review. They are also entitled to appeal the matter to an appeal committee consisting of non-executive members of the Legal Aid Board.

The Board periodically brings proposals to my Department in relation to the financial eligibility and other criteria in relation to civil legal aid. The Legal Aid Board has provided a submission to my Department in regard to financial eligibility criteria for legal aid, including in regard to HAP payments, which is under consideration by my officials.