It could take a year before people seeking legal aid for divorce get an appointment with a solicitor in some parts of the State, the Legal Aid Board has warned. The board gives priority to domestic violence and other emergency cases, and waiting lists exist in almost all its law centres for other cases.
The worst-hit parts of the State, the board's annual report suggests, are Tralee, Co Kerry, where there is already a wait of 6 1/2 months for non-emergency cases; Portlaoise and Wicklow (five months); parts of Dublin and Cork city (4 1/2 months) and Athlone (3 1/2 months).
These waiting periods will increase by one to seven months as demand for help with divorce continues, the report says.
Between May of last year and the end of February, more than 1,000 people contacted the board for assistance with divorce.
The board subsidises the cost of civil cases for people who pass a means test and virtually all its money is spent on family law cases.
The board provides civil legal aid to almost 5,000 people a year and free legal advice to almost 8,000 and has a budget of £6.5 million.
In its annual report, the board says the introduction of divorce and changes in the law on domestic violence have put it under extra pressure.
The number of people helped with domestic violence proceedings rose by 60 per cent to 1,000 last year.
This followed the introduction of the Domestic Violence Act which gives the courts extra powers to protect people in the home.
Noting that family law cases take up almost all the board's resources, the report argues that more could be done to settle family law disputes through negotiation.
It has two objectives in promoting a negotiated approach, it says, "firstly to provide, where possible, remedies for the problem faced by the client in a non-adversarial environment, and secondly to make the most effective use of the resources available to it."
It is planning to introduce a pilot project next year on non-adversarial negotiations in family law cases.
Judicial separation accounted for more subsidised court cases last year than any other category. The board is scathing about some aspects of the adversarial legal system in family law cases.
Cases, it says, are frequently settled at the door of the court and the negotiations are often hurried despite the fact that there is ample time to discuss matters in the months leading up to the court appearance.
"A family law case taken in the Circuit Court may have been in being for a year or more before the hearing date, and considerable time and money will have been spent in providing legal services in the case," it says.
"The negotiations that eventually take place at the door of the court are often hurried, and the parties find themselves under considerable pressure to take difficult decisions, with insufficient time to reflect on the consequences of any decision they might take.
"Questions need to be asked in relation to this feature of family law practice. Why if a case can be settled on the day it is listed for hearing could it not have been settled at an earlier date, even before the proceedings were commenced?"
In contrast to the adversarial approach, "a clear procedural route to the negotiating table would mean that the parties could take that route once an agreement in principle to negotiate had been reached. In many cases, an agreement in principle to negotiate could be reached soon after each party had secured legal representation."