Legal Aid

Over a quarter of applications to the interim payment scheme set up by the legal aid agency in response to the coronavirus pandemic have been rejected. As of Monday night, the Legal Services Agency (LSA) had processed 264 requests under the COVID-19 interim payments scheme which came into operation

Over £2 million in legal aid fees has not yet been paid to lawyers because their claims have not been resubmitted after being queried by the Legal Services Agency (LSA). There were 1,767 queries with a total value of £2.24 million awaiting replies and resubmission from 139 different firm

The next government should commit to a root and branch review of the civil legal aid scheme, legal rights group FLAC has said. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders are currently in talks to form a historic coalition government on the basis of a paper published earlier this week.

Criminal barristers have been told they will receive legal aid payments for adjourned cases during the coronavirus lockdown and "refresher fees" when trials resume. The Department of Justice confirmed in response to representations from The Bar of Ireland that brief fees will be paid now in respect

The law firms and barristers earning most from legal aid in Northern Ireland are no longer being named out of concerns about GDPR rules. The Legal Services Agency has not published details payments made to solicitor firms and individual barristers for four years.

The Oireachtas justice committee's inquiry into access to justice and legal costs has lapsed as a result of the Dáil's dissolution for the general election. Rose Wall, CEO of Community Law & Mediation (CLM), gave evidence to the committee last month, calling for the expansion of civil leg

The Chief Justice of Ireland, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, has called for a "significant review" of the income thresholds used to determine eligibility for civil legal aid. Speaking at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the Legal Aid Board, Ireland's top judge said the "increased complexity of mod

The Chief Justice of Ireland, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, will reflect on the role of civil legal aid in ensuring access to justice at the Legal Aid Board's 40th anniversary celebrations tomorrow. The top judge will deliver the keynote address at the event, which will highlight the Board's contribution

A key UN committee has backed calls for Ireland's civil legal aid scheme to be expanded to help combat racial discrimination in employment and welfare. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has issued its recommendations to the Government following a formal examination of Stat

The lack of legal aid for racial discrimination and harassment claims in Ireland is depriving people from ethnic minority backgrounds of their rights, FLAC will tell UN experts today. Eilis Barry, chief executive of the legal rights group, is giving evidence in Geneva to the UN Committee on the Elim

A root and branch review of the provision of civil legal aid is urgently needed, the Oireachtas justice committee has heard . Eilis Barry, CEO of FLAC, joined a range of legal experts and representatives of the legal profession this morning at a committee meeting on the issue of "Access to Justice a

The chairperson of the Legal Aid Board has backed calls for fundamental and ambitious reform to the family law system. Philip O'Leary said he supported the findings of the Oireachtas justice committee's report on the family law system, which chairman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said ma

Legal aid for vulnerable migrant children who have been separated from their parents has been reinstated in England and Wales. Non-asylum immigration matters were removed from the legal aid scheme under major reforms in 2013, but ministers have now reinstated the scheme for under-18s who are not in

Far too many people are representing themselves in family law proceedings, legal rights group FLAC has warned. The Oireachtas justice committee yesterday published its report on the family law system, which chairman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said made “abundantly clear that the

The €1 million funding boost for the Legal Aid Board is not enough to allow for a "meaningful review" of the civil legal aid scheme, legal rights group FLAC has warned. The Board has been allocated €42.2 million in Budget 2020, which includes an increase of €1 million on the previous