657. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the Legal Aid Board records the outcome of international protection cases in which it provides legal assistance, including grants of protection, refusals, appeals lodged, appeals allowed, appeals withdrawn and appeals refused; if not, whether he considers this a data gap in the oversight of publicly funded legal services; and i…
Topics / Legal Aid
A subject heading for parliamentary questionsLegal Aid
180 questions from 41 TDs, between 22 January 2025 and 20 October 2026.
180
questions
172 written, 8 oral
41
TDs have asked
9
parties and groups
Independents counted together
2
departments asked
Questions per month
The record holds no questions for August, when the Dáil does not sit.
Jan 2025Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | 2 |
| February 2025 | 2 |
| March 2025 | 5 |
| April 2025 | 2 |
| May 2025 | 5 |
| June 2025 | 0 |
| July 2025 | 4 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 13 |
| October 2025 | 5 |
| November 2025 | 10 |
| December 2025 | 3 |
| January 2026 | 1 |
| February 2026 | 0 |
| March 2026 | 30 |
| April 2026 | 10 |
| May 2026 | 20 |
| June 2026 | 19 |
| July 2026 | 10 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 24 |
| October 2026 | 15 |
Who asks, by party
The party each TD belonged to on the day, in alphabetical order. Parties differ a lot in size, and members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them, so this shows who raised it, not how much a party cares about it.
The TDs who asked most
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them. Each question counts once.
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31
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31
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29
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17
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5
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5
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4
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4
Asked of
Debated under the same heading
Debates whose official heading is exactly these words.
The questions
658. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department has asked the Legal Aid Board to record legal aid expenditure in international protection cases by stage, including initial application, interview preparation, written representations, appeal preparation and appeal hearing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32907/26]
659. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether any target, benchmark or performance indicator exists for the cost per completed international protection legal aid case; if not, whether he intends to introduce one through the Legal Aid Board performance delivery agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32908/26]
660. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the Legal Aid Board’s internal audit programme since 2019 has examined international protection legal aid expenditure specifically; if so, to provide the title and date of each audit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32909/26]
661. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether he will request the Legal Aid Board to undertake a dedicated value-for-money review of legal aid expenditure relating to international protection applicants, having regard to the increase in expenditure since 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32910/26]
662. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the 2026 Performance Delivery Agreement with the Legal Aid Board includes any specific performance indicators relating to international protection legal aid costs, case throughput, waiting times, appeal-stage expenditure or outcome tracking; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32911/26]
663. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether any forecasting model is used by his Department or the Legal Aid Board to estimate future demand and expenditure for international protection legal aid services; if so, to outline the assumptions used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32912/26]
664. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether he intends to bring forward a timeline for implementing the recommendations of the Civil Legal Aid Review Group, including recommendations relating to tribunal-based matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32914/26]
665. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether legal representation in housing-related disputes, including disputes before the Residential Tenancies Board, is being considered as part of reform of the civil legal aid scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32915/26]
666. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department has estimated the cost of extending civil legal aid to additional tribunal-based matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32916/26]
691. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to previous replies indicating that operational matters relating to civil legal aid fall within the remit of the Legal Aid Board, to clarify whether his Department retains policy, governance, or oversight responsibility in relation to civil legal aid services, including, access to such services; the allocation of Exchequer fund…
692. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether decisions regarding funding allocations and approved staffing levels for the Legal Aid Board are informed by any formal or periodic assessment of demand for civil legal aid services; if so, to outline the methodology used, including any metrics, projections, or service demand indicators applied; and if not, to explain the basis…
693. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether any Department, agency, or cross-government mechanism is responsible for assessing overall access to civil legal aid services across all applicant categories, including Irish citizens and international protection applicants; if so, to identify that body and outline how equality of access is monitored and evaluated; and if no su…
208. Deputy Catherine Ardagh asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the aspects of the flat fee proposal for criminal legal aid work at District Court level that had been disclosed to associations (details supplied) at the time of the initiation of his Departmental consultation with those parties in relation to a paper entitled 'Review of Criminal Legal Aid in the District Court'; and if he will m…
802. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average cost per applicant of legal aid services provided to persons seeking international protection, in each year from 2019 to 2025, broken down by application stage and appeals stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29651/26]
803. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the total number of applicants for international protection who received legal aid services in each year from 2019 to 2025; the corresponding total expenditure, in order to establish the average cost per case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29652/26]
804. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number and proportion of international protection applications supported by Legal Aid Board services that resulted in a grant of protection; a refusal; and a successful appeal, in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29653/26]
805. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department or the Legal Aid Board has conducted any value-for-money or efficiency assessment of legal aid expenditure in respect of international protection applicants since 2019; if so, to provide details; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29654/26]
806. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether any expenditure ceiling, budgetary control mechanism, or forecasting model is in place in respect of legal aid services for international protection applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29655/26]
807. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether Ireland's expenditure per capita on legal aid services for international protection applicants has been benchmarked against other EU Member States; if so, to provide the findings of such benchmarking; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29659/26]
808. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether consideration has been given to expanding access to legal representation for Irish citizens in areas currently excluded or limited, including housing disputes and tribunal-based matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29660/26]
2083. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average and median amounts paid to a barristers in County Meath providing criminal legal aid services for the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25349/26]
2145. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of people that applied, those granted and any individuals that were subsequently refused access to free legal aid over the past six years, broken down by court house across Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26400/26]
200. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the changes he proposes to bring to the criminal legal aid scheme, including all elements of the revised fee structure, whether any changes will require amendments to legislation or be enacted by regulation; the proposed timeframe for implementation of each change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22917/26]
201. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether, as part of the proposed changes to the criminal legal aid scheme, it is intended to introduce a flat-fee model for District Court criminal legal aid work; and if so, the proposed level of that fee and the work it is intended to cover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22918/26]