Civil legal aid in the Republic is facing an emergency that is as pressing as the crisis in criminal legal aid, with serious shortfalls in funding and an urgent need for reform, a new report from an Oireachtas committee has found. Launching the all-party committee on justice report on the civil legal aid system in Leinster House on Thursday, chairman Matt Carthy (SF) said a serious and growing crisis had emerged in relation to accessing civil legal aid.“The level of reform required cannot be achieved without immediate and adequate funding for the Legal Aid Board and the system could collapse without investment that addresses current pressures and future responsibilities, including those arising under the incoming EU Asylum and Migration Pact,” he said. How the duplicitous double life of Jeffrey Donaldson threatens the future of unionism Listen | 38:39The service is administered through the Legal Aid Board and is available to people who cannot afford a lawyer. Its main areas of advice are divorce, separation, domestic violence and international protection and asylum claims.The report contains 30 recommendations. The primary ones include: calling for reform of the board; additional resourcing; the raising of income thresholds for eligibility; and widening the criteria of the “merits” test in cases of domestic violence, even when the victim’s income is above the threshold. The report also calls for an expansion of mediation services. It also recommends that legal aid be extended to other areas of civil law. At the launch of the report, committee members highlighted serious shortfalls in resources, personnel and funding in the current system. Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon referred to an imbalance in justice, particularly affecting those seeking help for domestic violence.Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward spoke about the disadvantages facing people with little means of accessing legal aid, while Senator Anne Rabbitte (FF) also referred to the need to cater for the needs of domestic violence survivors. The current income threshold is €18,000 for civil legal aid, which the Law Society described as extremely outdated, as it locks many people out of the justice system. It welcomed the recommendation in the majority report of the Civil Legal Aid review, chaired by former chief justice Frank Clarke, which said it should be increased to €23,500 as soon as possible. The Legal Aid Board has called for it to be increased to €27,500.[ Solicitor launches High Court challenge to new criminal legal aid modelOpens in new window ]The launch heard the lack of resources in the system has meant a one-year wait for some people to have their first consultation with a lawyer. The report made several recommendations to raise the rates of pay available to Legal Aid Board solicitors to bring them into line with other Civil Service solicitors, such as the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office. It also said that self-employed solicitors involved in the Private Practitioners Scheme must be paid adequately. An urgent review of the rates was required to guarantee retention and to prevent what was described at the launch as a “mass exodus” of solicitors from the scheme.At the launch, Keith Walsh SC and Siún Hurley of the Law Society, and Séamus Clarke SC, vice-chairman of the Bar Council, spoke separately about the lack of funding and resourcing. Walsh and Hurley referred to civil aid “deserts” in Sligo and the midlands, with others seeking representation being subject to long waiting lists. “This is an emergency. It is as pressing as the criminal legal aid difficulties, and I would ask the committee to please do what they can to have that meeting with the minister and to perform the interviews,” said Hurley. Clarke said the reality as of now was that a large number of people were effectively representing themselves in litigation across the State, in circumstances where the person on the other side of the case had funds. “We have scales of justice that are seriously misaligned as things stand,” he said. In earlier hearings, the Free Legal Advice Centre said the present requirement to make a financial contribution applied to people living below the poverty line. It was one of several bodies which recommend for that practice to end. However, the report stops short of endorsing that recommendation, but it has said that survivors of domestic violence should not be asked to contribute.