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GAZETTE
JANUARY FEBRUARY 1980
The Society and the
Civil Legal Aid Scheme
A CALENDAR OF EVENTS
On 2nd May 1979 the Minister for Justice announced
the Government's decision to introduce a limited Civil
Legal Aid Scheme. Meagre details were given in the
official announcement, but it was clearly stated that legal
aid and advice would be available only through Legal Aid
Centres, staffed by full-time lawyers, employed by the
State.
Following the discussion at the Society's Annual
Conference at Galway, the President and the Director
General met the Minister for Justice and urged that the
scheme should provide for the participation of private
practitioners, to allow the members of the public availing
of the scheme "a choice of lawyer" and, for those in
thinly populated areas, ready access to a lawyer. The
President also expressed the view that the scope of the
scheme should be extended to legal representation before
certain tribunals and, in particular, before the Employ-
ment Appeals Tribunal.
In the course of the conversation, the Minister indi-
cated that he was bound by a Cabinet decision that the
scheme was to be based on Law Centres, but that he
would consider the representations being made.
On 31st May 1979 the Minister wrote to the Society
indicating that, if Centres proved unable to meet the
demands on them, the position would have to be
examined and that, in that event, all options,
including the proposal for assistance from solicitors in
private practice would, of course, be considered. The
Minister further indicated that the objective of tribunals
was that they should work informally and in such a way
as to be "tribunals for the layman". The Minister stated
that he had no special knowledge of particular difficulties
associated with appearances before the Employment
Appeals Tribunal, but the matter would be discussed with
the Department of Labour in the context
of
the prepara-
tion of a detailed scheme.
The Society was aware that discussions were in
progress between the Department and the Bar Council on
the Bar's participation in the scheme, though it was not
privy to, nor invited to participate in such talks.
When in October the Minister, in answer to a parlia-
mentary question, stated that he was in consultation with
the legal profession in relation to the introduction of the
scheme, which he hoped to introduce before the end of
1979, the Council of the Society, not being aware that it
was in course of being consulted about any aspect of the
scheme, sought an appointment with the Department as a
matter of urgency.
On 9th November 1979 a deputation from the Council
comprising Mrs. Moya Quintan, Mr. W. D. McEvoy, Mr.
D. G. Binchy and Mr. J. F. Buckley, together with the
Director General, Mr. Ivers, met the Assistant Secretary
6
of the Department of Justice and other relevant officials
and strongly reiterated the view that Law Centres, while a
desirable part of a civil legal aid scheme, could not meet
the demands of people in rural areas, who might have to
travel long distances to large population centres to get to
a Law Centre.
It was pointed out to the Department that in other
areas, such as in the State's provision of dental services,
where the system was originally set up based on centres
and had involved a large capital contribution, the scheme
had been a failure and it had been necessary to evolve a
scheme involving private practitioners.
It was also pointed out that Law Centres in Dublin
were likely to be faced with substantial litigation work-
loads, which could require substantial numbers of
qualified practitioners to handle — it was pointed out that
on any given day there could be nineteen High and
Circuit Courts sitting in Dublin, seven or eight District
Courts sitting in the Dublin Metropolitan Area and a
further two or three in Dublin County.
At that November meeting, the Assistant Secretary of
the Department indicated that he would bring the views of
the deputation to the Minister, who might bring them to
the notice of the Government when the scheme came up
for final approval.
The Society's deputation again raised the question of
making provision in the scheme for legal aid and assis-
tance for employees appearing before the Employment
Appeals Tribunals and Mrs. Quinlan, a Vice Chairman of
that Tribunal, confimred that her experience was that
employers were usually professionally aided but that, in a
large number of cases, employees were not legally repre-
sented. The Society's deputation was informed that the
advice of the Department of Labour on this point was
awaited.
The Assistant Secretary of the Department indicated
that a number of the other matters which had been raised
by the deputation would be matters for the Legal Aid
Board to consider when it was established. He stated that
he was not in a position to disclose any further details of
the scheme, as it had not been approved by the
Government.
It was agreed that the Department would prepare a
minute of that meeting and would circulate it to the
Society. No such minute was received by the Society and,
following a report to the Council of the Society on its
meeting on 13th December 1979, the Society wrote to the
Department reiterating the points which had been made,
but received no further communication from the Depart
ment before the scheme was published and the members
of the Board appointed, on 20th December 1979.