Sonya McMullan, regional services manager of the Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, reinforced to MLAs the severity of the impact of potential and real cuts to legal aid at the Assembly on Tuesday during a meeting of the all-party group on access to justice, which was established earlier this year.

The Department of Justice recently conducted a review of civil legal aid in Northern Ireland, which accounts for 50.3 per cent of the total legal aid expenditure.

Ms McMullan emphasised the particular issues faced by victims of domestic abuse in their attempts to access legal aid, a key principle in the rule of law.

Women’s Aid has campaigned for the safer protection of survivors of domestic abuse through the introduction of legal aid waivers. Ms McMullan explained that the number of people getting these waivers is extremely low and there are many issues in relation to this that need to be addressed.

The meeting of the all-party group, which is co-sponsored by The Bar of Northern Ireland and the Law Society of Northern Ireland, was focused on the civil legal aid review.

Ms McMullan said: “We would like to see greater consideration given to the human costs associated with cuts to legal aid, which impact vulnerable members of society most acutely including survivors of domestic abuse.

“Continued cuts to the legal aid and justice budget will only serve to further reduce their ability to access the justice system.”

The Alliance Party’s Stewart Dickson MLA, who chairs the all-party group, said: “It was vital to be able to hear from Sonya McMullan from Women’s Aid today at the meeting of the all-party group.

“It is important that the legal aid system enables everyone across Northern Ireland, especially our most vulnerable groups, to have equal and unimpeded access to the justice system when they need it.”

The Law Society’s senior vice-president Brian Archer and the Bar’s David Mulholland and Donal Lunny KC welcomed Ms McMullan’s intervention in a joint statement.

They said: “Hearing from Women’s Aid today at Stormont has only reinforced the challenges surrounding the provision of legal aid within Northern Ireland.

“The financial eligibility thresholds for civil legal aid have not been updated for 15 years, meaning that many citizens in need of legal aid, and who in the past would have been entitled to it, are now effectively barred from accessing it.

“There is an abundance of social and economic data which demonstrates the increased need for, and dependency upon, legal aid in this jurisdiction meaning any reduction in the scope and budget represents a serious threat to accessing justice across Northern Ireland.

“t is also concerning that as demand for legal services grows, the number of legal aid practitioners is declining due to delayed payments and decades-old rates that remain unchanged.

“Urgent steps to provide proper investment are required to ensure access to justice is upheld, particularly for the most vulnerable in our society.”