Legal Aid
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

As indicated, my objective is to implement the majority report. I do not have sufficient funding to implement the minority report, to be frank with the Senator. In regard to what I have got to do, if I increased the thresholds, and I hope to do that, it will necessarily result in there being more work for the Legal Aid Board to do. I have to ensure there are sufficient resources within the Legal Aid Board to be able to do that.
As the Senator will be aware, a range of supports are available for people experiencing domestic abuse. We discussed some of them yesterday at committee; I will come back to that presently. It is important to try to ensure there is greater access for people to the civil legal aid system, particularly for those who are victims of domestic abuse.
In regard to what the Senator said about counselling notes, I will have an opportunity in the Seanad when the miscellaneous provisions Bill comes here. We had a very good discussion on it yesterday on Committee Stage. I am very satisfied that the measures I introduced and got through Committee Stage yesterday will significantly strengthen the current situation. The current situation is unacceptable. I am putting in place a statutory presumption that there will be non-disclosure of counselling notes but, as the Senator will obviously be aware, they cannot be completely banned. That is the clear advice that I and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre have received. We have got to get a balancing act, and the balancing act I will be discussing here in the Seanad when the Bill comes to it is the suitable one.

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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