Question: 282. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department has conducted any workforce planning exercise, manpower assessment, service-capacity review or similar exercise relating to the future provision of criminal legal aid services since 1 January 2020; the dates on which such reviews were completed; if he will provide details of the principal findings; if his Department has undertaken any assessment of recruitment and retention trends among solicitors undertaking criminal legal aid work for the same period; and if he will provide details of any such assessment. 

Question: 283. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether statistics are maintained regarding criminal proceedings adjourned due to difficulties in securing legal representation under the criminal legal aid scheme; and, if so, the number of such adjournments recorded in each of the last five years, in tabular form. 

Question: 284. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether risks relating to the availability, recruitment or retention of solicitors undertaking criminal legal aid work have been identified in any departmental risk assessment, risk register or business planning document since 1 January 2021. 

Question: 285. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department has undertaken any assessment of recruitment and retention trends among solicitors undertaking criminal legal aid work since 1 January 2022; and if he will provide details of any such assessment. 

Question: 926. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether he will engage in dialogue with legal practitioners to bring the current legal aid scheme dispute to an end.

Question: 915. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the methodology and underlying calculation used by his Department to produce the 'weighted average number of appearances’ (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 904. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificates issued in each month of 2025 and in each month to date in 2026, in tabular form.

Question: 900. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the total number of resignations received from the Criminal Legal Aid panel since 1 July 2026. 

Question: 860. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificates granted in the District Court in July 2025 and July 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 859. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificates granted in the District Court in August 2025 and August 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 858. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificates granted in the District Court to date in 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 857. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificate granted in the District Court, by county for the months of July and August 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter 

Question: 856. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificates granted in the District Court, by county, for the months of July and August 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2125. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department maintains, as a general matter of governance, the risk assessment or risk register entry relating to continuity of legal representation in criminal proceedings; the date any such entry was created or last reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2130. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether any assessment was carried out of the adequacy of a single flat fee for more serious or more resource-intensive District Court matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2139. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question No. 588 of 14 July 2026, which provided annual national totals only, to provide the number of criminal legal aid certificates granted in the District Court in the period 1 to 14 July in each of the years 2024, 2025 and 2026, by court district, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2140. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 319 and 320 of 15 July 2026, which provided national figures only, to provide the number of criminal legal aid certificates granted in the Cork District Court area in each month from January 2026 to date, the number of solicitors on the criminal legal aid panel serving the Cork District Court area; the number who have resigned from that panel since 1 June 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2517. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to set out the research, data analysis or evidence base relied upon by the Department in designing the fee structure of the revised criminal legal aid scheme introduced on 1 July 2026, in particular in respect of cases involving multiple separate charges listed on the same day and cases of extended duration; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2518. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of meetings that have taken place between his Department and representatives of the criminal defence profession, including the Law Society of Ireland, regarding the revised criminal legal aid scheme since 1 July 2026; the dates of those meetings; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2519. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if his Department has issued a substantive response to the correspondence received from the Law Society of Ireland dated 31 July 2026 and 24 August 2026 concerning the operation of the revised criminal legal aid scheme; the date on which such a response issued or is expected to issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2520. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the Department is monitoring the number of solicitors participating in the revised criminal legal aid scheme since 1 July 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2521. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to set out the terms of reference and the expected completion date of the review of the criminal legal aid scheme announced by the Department; whether interim adjustments to the scheme will be considered pending the outcome of that review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2192. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question No. 588 of 14 July 2026, the changes made to District Court criminal legal aid fees in each year since 2015, outlining further for each year what the changes due to the reversal of FEMPI cuts were through fee restoration; the date on which each of those changes came into effect, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2207. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the total expenditure on criminal legal aid in each of the past five years, broken down by the District Court, Circuit Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2214. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the criteria, metrics and timeline by which his Department will review the operation of the flat fee model for criminal legal aid in the District Court; whether the review will monitor the number of solicitors on the Criminal Legal Aid Panel and the number of cases adjourned due to accused persons being unable to obtain representation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2235. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the methodology, data source and reference period used to calculate the comparative baseline against which the 174 criminal legal aid certificates issued since 1 July 2026 have been assessed; if the Department will publish the underlying dataset; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2236. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to his Department's statement that the number of criminal legal aid certificates issued since 1 July 2026 confirms that the new system is working, the specific certificate volume, threshold or indicator which the Department would regard as evidence that the scheme is not working; the date on which any such threshold was set; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2241. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the current status of the review of the criminal legal aid fee structure; whether any post-implementation review of the flat fee model has been commissioned; the terms of reference and reporting date of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2208. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the Departmental analysis of case duration under the criminal legal aid scheme, including the comparison of 313 calendar days for legal aid cases against 133 days for non-legal aid cases, distinguished between adjournments caused by prosecution disclosure delays, Garda file delays, waiting times for expert reports and psychiatric assessments, interpreter availability, and defendant vulnerability, and adjournments attributable to the conduct of defence solicitors; if not, the reason the Department attributes the differential to the fee structure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2210. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether a regulatory impact assessment was carried out before the introduction of the flat fee model for criminal legal aid; whether that assessment examined the withdrawal of practitioners from civil legal aid family law work following comparable fee pressures; the contingency planning undertaken by the Department for the risk of large scale withdrawal from the Criminal Legal Aid panel; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2211. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the date on which the Department first notified the Law Society of Ireland of the proposal to introduce a flat fee model for criminal legal aid; the date of the public announcement of that proposal; the number and dates of meetings held with the Law Society and practitioner representatives between those dates and 1 July 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2212. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the Department's review of over 350,000 District Court cases from 2022 and 2023, cited as the evidential basis for the flat fee reform of the criminal legal aid scheme, categorised the causes of adjournments; the proportion of adjournments attributable respectively to the defence, the prosecution, delays in disclosure, delays in directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions, delays in Forensic Science Ireland certificates, the non-production of accused persons from custody, and delays in probation and restorative justice reports; and whether the Department will publish this review in full. 

Question: 2213. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether his Department, in concluding that legally aided cases take longer to resolve than privately retained cases, controlled for the gravity and complexity of the offences involved, given that the seriousness of the offence is a criterion applied by the presiding judge in granting legal aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2240. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of meetings held between the Department and the Law Society of Ireland on the criminal legal aid fee structure since 1 July 2026; the dates of same; whether any proposal to amend the flat fee model has been placed before the Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2209. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of District Court cases adjourned since 1 July 2026 arising from the withdrawal of solicitors from the Criminal Legal Aid panel; the number of persons who appeared before the courts without legal representation in that period; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2238. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of accused persons who have appeared before the District Court without legal representation since 1 July 2026; the number of cases adjourned or remanded by reason of the unavailability of a legal aid solicitor; the number of such cases involving a person in custody; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2424. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the action she is taking to ensure that an individual’s right to legal representation is currently being honoured; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2425. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of legal professionals currently on the legal aid panel in Wicklow; the breakdown of these numbers each year since 2020; if there have been recent resignations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

Question: 2452. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to outline any plans to deal with legal aid issues impacting on justice system; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2343. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of District Court criminal prosecutions in which criminal legal aid was assigned, in 2023, 2024 and 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2239. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the total number of resignations from the criminal legal aid panel received by the Courts Service since 1 June 2026; the number of solicitors remaining on that panel as of the latest date available; the comparable figure on 1 June 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Question: 2237. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of criminal legal aid certificates issued in the Cork District Court area in each month from January 2026 to date, the number of solicitors who have resigned from the criminal legal aid panel since 1 June 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter.