Leinster House, Credit: David Kernan [CC-BY 4.0] 

€5.9 billion is available for justice, home affairs and migration in Budget 2027, €14.5 million of which is to go towards civil legal aid reform. Initially this funding is intended to help increase the financial thresholds for qualifying for civil legal aid. This matter was addressed by both the Bar of Ireland and the Law Society of Ireland in their pre-budget submissions with the Bar noting that the thresholds had “remained static for almost two decades”.

The Bar, however, warned that increasing eligibility without addressing underlying challenges such as practitioner participation and fee sustainability would only “exacerbate existing delays and capacity constraints”.  There are not currently any budget promises to address those further issues.

Elsewhere in the justice system €5.3 million has been promised for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence initiatives, including additional funding for CUAN.

Funding has been allocated to recruit up to 1,000 trainee gardaí, bringing the force to over 15,000 by next year.

€75 million has been promised for the Prison Service much of which is intended to support recruitment and overtime.

There is an increase of €13.5 million in funding for the Courts Service, €10 million of which is dedicated to judicial recruitment and €1.7 million for interpretation and translation services and intermediaries for vulnerable witnesses. There is also an additional €11.5 million in funding for youth justice initiatives.

There is also a €2.18 billion justice capital programme for 2026–2030, including new prison places, Garda infrastructure, court buildings and digital systems. The plan includes more than 1,500 additional prison spaces by 2031 and investment in new courthouses.