The Gazette 1980

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.