Legal Aid

The Parole Board's legal aid scheme provided legal representation to 38 applicants and 28 victims in the first year-and-a-half of its operation, new figures show. The statutory Parole Board today published its first annual report, covering the period from 31 July 2021 — when the Parole Ac

Legal aid should be provided in all domestic violence and child care cases before the family courts, regardless of income, a judge has suggested. In comments reported by The Irish Times, Judge John Campbell, of Dublin District Court, told a conference on domestic violence and child protection that t

Defendants who lie about their financial circumstances to obtain legal aid could face up to six months' imprisonment under sweeping reforms to the administration of the criminal legal aid scheme. The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill 2023 will transfer administrative responsibility for the scheme fr

Chief Justice Donal O'Donnell compared the provision of civil legal aid in the State to the provision of healthcare before the major reforms of the 1970s as he launched a new report on access to justice today. A 90-page report of the speeches delivered and issues explored during the two-day conferen

It was never supposed to come to this. The Bar Council's historic decision to call for strike action over fee restoration is undoubtedly a dramatic development — and one that Irish Legal News believes is entirely justified. Successive governments have had long enough to rectify an abysmal situ

The Irish Criminal Bar Association (ICBA) is seeking the views of criminal prosecutions on the future of the legal aid scheme in the District Court. The ICBA has launched a short survey, the results of which will be presented at a meeting in the Criminal Courts of Justice next Thursday.

The Bar Council of Ireland has called on criminal barristers to take part in a one-day strike this October in a major escalation of its campaign for fee restoration. Sara Phelan SC, chair, said the Bar Council had been "left with no choice" as a result of the government's failure to restore fees for

A leading psychiatrist has withdrawn from criminal legal aid work due to the "derisory remuneration" on offer. In a letter seen by Irish Legal News, Professor Patricia Casey — a professor emeritus of psychiatry at University College Dublin and a consultant at Blackrock Health — said she

At least 4,400 people were unable to get through to FLAC's telephone line in 2022 due to overwhelming demand, the independent legal, equality and human rights organisation's latest annual report reveals. Mr Justice Frank Clarke, the former Chief Justice and chair of the civil legal aid review group,

The names of the barristers and solicitors who earned the most from the criminal legal aid scheme in 2022 have been published. John M. Quinn was the highest-earning solicitor and highest earner overall, with €664,247.77 in income through the scheme.

The government has signalled an openness to reforming the criminal legal aid system to provide for direct payments to barristers practising in the District Court.

Just 14 applications for a legal aid eligibility waiver on the grounds of domestic abuse have been issued since they became available in Northern Ireland over a year ago, new figures show. The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021, which came into force in February 2022,&n

The civil legal aid scheme should be extended to cover housing issues amid a "protracted housing, homelessness and accommodation crisis", the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has recommended. The rights body has published its submission to the independent review of the civil legal aid sche

The Bar of Ireland is seeking talks with ministers over fee restoration for barristers after reports that the government would consider increases in exchange for unspecified concessions. Professional fees paid to barristers practising criminal law on behalf of the State were slashed by amounts rangi

Barristers staged protests outside of courthouses yesterday to condemn the "pitiful rates" paid to defence lawyers practising in the District Court under the criminal legal aid scheme. Dozens of junior lawyers, joined by a handful of senior colleagues in a show of solidarity, gathered outside the Cr