Legal Aid Board diverted funds meant for Abhaile scheme

Correspondence obtained under Freedom of Information reveals that funds earmarked for the Abhaile scheme were reallocated to fund the reversal of a controversial decision to restrict family law referrals.

In a letter sent to the Department of Justice’s director of corporate services on 25 July 2017, Legal Aid Board chief executive John McDaid said the Board’s resources were “under considerable pressure across a number of areas of expenditure”.

Mr McDaid said that “in order to remain within our budgetary framework for 2017, we have allocated some of the funds that were earmarked for the Abhaile Scheme to other budget lines”.

However, he said the decision was taken as there was “likely to be a surplus of up to €1.2m from the €2.3m given specifically for the non-pay side for Abhaile for 2017 — a figure of €594,000 was also carried over into 2017 from the 2016 monies assigned to the Abhaile Scheme”.