THE HEARTBREAK of a marital collapse is difficult enough to cope with but, almost inevitably, the shock of separation is quickly followed by questions of who is entitled to what, who pays for what, and who gets access to the kids, writes Limerick Post reporter Bernie English.
All questions which will, unless the parties are in full agreement, mean consulting solicitors and probably going to court.
“About 80 per cent of our work is with family law,” John O’Gorman, managing solicitor with Limerick Legal Aid, tells the Limerick Post.
With more than 1,000 applications for legal aid in Limerick last year, that’s a lot of people in need of help without the means to pay a solicitor privately.
The legal aid system is there to ensure that justice is not only available to the wealthy.
That applies whether the problem is with a family situation, a breach of contract by someone engaged to supply goods or services, or if the person needing help is the victim in a rape or sexual assault.
There are five solicitors, including John, employed in the Limerick service, and two paralegals, with a third about to join the team.
“We also have contracts with private practitioners because, even with that number of solicitors, there is huge demand,” says John.
And the geography of the provision of representation is another demand.
‘We can’t represent both parties in an action, so sometimes a Limerick case will be moved to Cork, Kerry, or Galway. We’ve travelled all over. Last year, we attended 400 courts in 20 different locations.”
The cases legal aid covers are across a broad spectrum outside of family law too.
Some areas are off limits, such as normal conveyancing when buying a property or defamation cases.
“We cover representation in evictions and we get quite a few neighbour disputes about nuisance or noise,” John explains.
Changing demand for legal aid
With legislation now enacted in assisted decision making, it is an area legal aid will most likely see increased demand.
“We also do a lot of work in cases where Tusla wants to take children into care, we would represent the parents in those cases,” John says.
One very difficult and sensitive area where John and his colleagues offer support, advice, and protection is for victims in sexual assault and rape cases – an area where victims are not usually legally represented at all.
“Legislation has changed in the last couple of years and a victim can now be cross-examined on their sexual history in a case of alleged rape or sexual assault,” the veteran Limerick solicitor explains.
“Or sometimes an accused might want to see the victim’s counselling records or some other documentation – in all of those cases, we represent the victim in whatever they want to do.”
Last year alone, the Limerick Legal Aid team appeared in 31 such cases in the Central Criminal Court in Mulgrave Street.
‘An applicant won’t qualify if they are even two or three euros over’
Just who qualifies for legal aid – which is not free but operates on an ability to pay basis and a means test – is decided on a strict computation.
“We don’t have any discretion in who qualifies. It’s a set disposable income limit which is decided centrally,” John explains.
“Generally, someone on a social welfare payment will qualify and there are allowances that can be claimed but sometimes even people on a modest enough income won’t qualify.”
As part of a review of the entire legal aid system, it has been recommended that the eligibility income ceiling be raised, a move John and his colleagues would support.
“An applicant won’t qualify if they are even two or three euros over. That’s very frustrating,” he said.
Just like its counterpart in criminal legal aid representation, civil legal aid will go as far as it believes necessary and productive in a case, taking matters up the system to the High Court or even the Supreme Court if that is the appropriate place to have a matter decided.
The cost of legal aid
That kind of representation does not come cheap. The cost of having a senior counsel and a barrister in the High Court for a day is “between €4,000 and €4,500, on the scale they charge us,” the managing solicitor says.
“Being fair to those involved, they have agreed a schedule of fees with us that bears absolutely no resemblance to reality. They give us enormous discounts on what they would charge in a private case.”
It still cost €1.4million in 2024 to provide a service in Limerick. And the demand is such that there are currently 130 people on a waiting list, stretching back to July 2025.
“The waiting time for a consultation is down to 36 weeks at the moment and we are going to get that down to 32 in the next couple of months. It’s a long wait but it’s better than last year, when waiting times were 46 weeks,” John says.
Two organisations, the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) and Citizens Advice, are both services which are independent of the legal aid service but offer a valuable support.
“FLAC and Citizens Advice can do something we can’t. They can offer legal advice and hold clinics. We don’t have clinics and it can be months before a client even gets a consultation with one of our solicitors. They are a valuable support,” John explains.
All of the activities of legal aid are funded by the Department of Justice, shored up by minimum contributions from the people who avail of their services. So does the service need more money from the central purse?
“Any organisation will say that if they have more money, they can do more. And yes, if could employ more solicitors then we would be able to handle more work and deal with case faster,” John concludes.
– Court Reporting Scheme