Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 December 2016
90. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of solicitors operating in County Meath; and if a person can avail of a voucher for a legal board office solicitor but be denied free legal aid (details supplied). [38561/16]
View answerSolicitors practising in Ireland are regulated by the Law Society of Ireland. Details of solicitors who hold a current practising certificate and professional indemnity insurance in Meath are available on the Society's website www.lawsociety.ie.
I presume that when the Deputy refers to “a voucher for a legal board office solicitor” he is referring to a voucher for free legal advice issued under the Abhaile scheme.
In this context, in October 2016, I launched Abhaile, the Government’s Mortgage Arrears Resolution Service. An important component of this scheme is that free legal advice is available to insolvent borrowers who are in danger of losing their family home. The free legal advice scheme operates on the basis that persons make applications to their local Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) office to avail of the Scheme. There are no means or merits criteria applicable although a person must meet three criteria for admission to the scheme:
- The person is insolvent (as defined under s. 2 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012: i.e. the borrower is ‘unable to pay his or her debts in full as they fall due’), and
- The person is in mortgage arrears on the home in which they ordinarily reside (their ‘principal private residence’ (PPR) as defined by s. 2 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012), and
- The person is at risk of losing that home (i.e. they have received from the mortgage lender repossession proceedings, a letter indicating that such proceedings will issue, a letter indicating that they are deemed non-cooperating, or an invitation to consider sale, surrender or other loss of all or part of the home).
If a person is admitted to the scheme, they will be given free financial advice either from the MABS office, a MABS dedicated mortgage arrears adviser, a PIP, or an accountant. If the MABS office or their financial adviser identifies that they would also benefit from free legal advice, they are given a voucher and a list of solicitors who have agreed to provide free legal advice under the scheme.
If a person who has been issued a legal advice voucher is having difficulty identifying a solicitor or redeeming a voucher they should contact the Legal Aid Board. It is important to note that while the Legal Aid Board administers this free legal advice service, the solicitors who provide services under this scheme are private practitioners and do not work in Legal Aid Board offices (law centres).
The scheme covers legal advice but does not extend to legal aid in the sense of representation in court. However, a duty solicitor service at county registrars’ courts is available as part of the Abhaile scheme. The duty solicitor cannot come on record for the borrower nor may they draft the court documents needed to defend repossession proceedings. The duty solicitor may speak on behalf of the borrower but the applications they can make are limited to seeking an adjournment so that the borrower can either apply to a Legal Aid Board law centre for civil legal aid or obtain representation privately.
If such a person applies for services to a Legal Aid Board law centre in connection with the defence of repossession proceedings, the application will be considered under the normal criteria that apply under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996 to 2016.
