Legal Aid
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

I know from reading the submission made by the Law Society that it also asserts this is a flawed proposal. When we think of efficiency, I am sure there are plenty of unnecessary adjournments in some cases, but in many there are not. As a community worker, I always try to portray to people whom we go to for funding that you cannot measure human interaction in efficiency or number of outcomes, number of adjournments or number of cases. It is a matter of how you work with individuals on a day-to-day basis, especially when we look at the courts system. In Ireland we say we have a rehabilitative system, whereby we might look at young people and vulnerable adults and often try to create other pathways for them out of the criminal justice system. However, you could be saying, "We need unnecessary adjournments", but your solicitor could be saying, "We need some adjournments because we have just got this person to register with their local youth centre and they are going to start a course in a community college." However, now you have only a flat fee and all of a sudden you cannot put in all those structures to make sure that person exits the criminal justice system and has what they need.
Finally, can the Minister of State say if any engagement took place with the District Court judges, who administer the system day in and day out, before the Department came up with these proposals?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26