Eilis Barry

FLAC’s chief executive, Eilis Barry, appeared before the joint Oireachtas committee on justice, home affairs and migration yesterday afternoon as part of its examination of civil legal aid in Ireland.

In her statement, Mrs Barry emphasised that the system of civil legal aid delivered by the Legal Aid Board is “in crisis” and “failing to meet huge amounts of legal need, particularly amongst groups who experience disadvantage and discrimination”.

She repeated FLAC’s previous warning that this system “may go from crisis to collapse altogether during 2026”, because of an increase in the Legal Aid Board’s workload arising from the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Her statement concluded: “We need to reject the entrenched cliché that legal aid is just ‘more money for lawyers’.

“It is vital to stress that there is research into whole different range of legal aid systems which shows that for every euro spent on access to justice there will be savings and benefits for individuals, communities, the courts and society. This has been firmly established by OECD and World Bank research.

“Access to justice is, and has to be regarded as, an investment, and a vital public service akin to healthcare and education.

“Given the imminent risk of collapse of legal aid services, it is alarming that the minister and his department have not yet provided any timeline for when they will respond fully to the civil legal aid review or introduce reforms in this area.

“As the Chief Justice pointed out at the recent civil legal aid conference, the pace of change is ‘frustratingly slow’.”