Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
1414. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Justice if all victims’ right to legal assistance and free legal aid under the Istanbul Convention is currently being met; the mechanism by which her Department monitors this obligation on the State; and the actions that she will take to redress failures to uphold this right. [43056/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can inform the Deputy that Ireland is meeting its obligations under the Istanbul Convention in the provision of legal assistance and free legal aid to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) and, moving forward, is expanding the provision of these services.
The Deputy will be aware that the Legal Aid Board is the statutory, independent body responsible for the provision of civil legal aid and advice to persons of modest means in the State, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996, as amended.
Victims of domestic violence can access legal advice from the Legal Aid Board through its law centre network or via referral to a private solicitor. In order to improve access to this service, the requirement for a victim of domestic violence to pay a contribution in order to access the service was removed in 2017.
In June I launched Zero Tolerance: the Third National Strategy on DSGBV, which is a whole of government strategy to combat DSGBV and has a particular focus on prevention, as well as ensuring that the criminal justice system and other services better support victims. It aims to bring about the attitudinal and system changes needed to ensure that there is zero tolerance in Irish society for DSGBV.
The Strategy contains a number of actions in relation to legislation in this area, one of which is the implementation of the recommendations on reform of sexual offences and other legislation contained in Supporting a Victim’s Journey, the government’s plan to make the criminal justice system more victim centred.
Supporting a Victim's Journey contains specific actions, which have been accepted by the Government, to ensure victims of sexual offences have access to legal advice.
It is intended that the range of offences for which legal advice is offered to victims will be expanded and an existing requirement for criminal proceedings to have actually commenced before a victim can access advice will be removed. It is expected that these measures, which require primary legislation, will be implemented in 2023.
