Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 November 2023
400. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Justice given the impact high legal fees are having in driving up insurance premiums, when she plans to publish the findings of a report (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51851/23]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the Government is committed to facilitating easier, speedier access to justice for businesses and individuals, and part of this involves addressing the issue of costs associated with accessing the legal system.
The Report of the Review of the Administration of Civil Justice (known as the Kelly Report) made over 90 recommendations. Arising from the Review report, I published the Civil Justice Efficiencies and Reform Measures plan in May 2022. The plan sets out how we will achieve these ambitious reforms, with the goal of facilitating easier, cheaper and quicker access to civil justice. The plan identifies a number of measures which have the aim of reducing legal costs, recognising that no one singular action will have the effect of sufficiently addressing the issue on its own.
One area on which the Kelly Review Group was not able to reach consensus was on the measures to regulate legal costs in Ireland. Two options were put forward: the first a set of non-binding guidelines; the second a table of maximum costs, to be set by an independent committee. One action in the above Plan is to undertake research on these two primary options as put forward by the Review Group. To this end, my Department commissioned economic consultants to evaluate these two options, as well as identifying other potential options which may serve the same policy objective. The Report has been received and is being reviewed by my Department. I expect to publish it in the coming weeks.
