Legal Aid
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

I welcome that the Minister is committed to implementing the majority report. I will ask him about the minority report's recommendation around the threshold that is currently €18,000 for eligibility and that it be moved up to €30,000, given that it has not been increased since 2006. That specific part of the minority report is crucial in regard to the way that coercive control and financial abuse is used in domestic violence situations.
When we talk about access to justice, legal aid is a core component of that but so are stronger protections within the judicial process. What are the Minister's thoughts on the disclosure in regard to the counselling notes piece? I know he was discussing it at the justice committee yesterday. I am concerned that the amendments to section 19A do not go far enough. They do not limit the Garda or the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, from seeking counselling notes. They do not strengthen protections around disclosures and, crucially, survivors are still required to hand over deeply personal counselling notes to legal teams, including the accused and defence teams. I am very concerned that what was put forward does not answer that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20