International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Mark Ward (SF), Dublin Mid-West

I reiterate what my colleagues have said about the meeting we had yesterday at the justice committee. The Minister does not have to believe us when we say there is a crisis in legal aid. The Bar Council of Ireland, the Law Society, FLAC, the Legal Aid Board and Women's Aid were all unanimously in agreement with that. They said the system is ready to collapse and is deteriorating in front of their eyes. Legal aid is fundamental to access to justice, especially in relation to domestic violence and family law. It is bursting at the seams, even without the added pressure this legislation looks like it will put on the Legal Aid Board. The Minister mentioned giving autonomy to the board and deciding on how it spends its resources. It is like Hobson's choice. Will it have to decide whether to help people in international protection, to help people with domestic violence or to help people in family law? Everybody that was at the meeting yesterday wants to do the right thing.
I asked earlier about legal group counselling. This was done for children with additional needs. They did group therapy. It was a way of bringing down the list by having a number of people in a room at the same time for a box-ticking exercise. They got some therapy but it was all in a group setting. Will the Minister give me clarification? He has not answered that the couple of times I have asked. Will legal counselling be done in a group setting or an individual setting?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18