Abolish Cost of Legal Aid

<p>Carlow Women&rsquo;s Aid is a voluntary organisation providing support and information for women who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence and abuse in the home or close relationship. They provide a free phone helpline, one to one information and support visits, outreach, court accompaniment and advocacy and referral. They also offer free, confidential and non judgemental support to all clients.</p><p>The court accompaniment service assists women by giving them information and support in applying for Protection Orders, Safety Orders, Interim Barring Orders and Barring Orders if deemed necessary and safe.</p><p>The cost of applying for free Legal Aid has increased significantly from &euro;50 to &euro;130. This often prevents many of our clients from attaining legal representation as they are often financially dependent on their abusive partners. In our experience many women who come to us for help require assistance for daily living and it is virtually impossible for them to find the &euro;130 fee during this extremely difficult time.&nbsp;</p><p>It&rsquo;s worth noting that in criminal court <strong>FREE LEGAL AID IS AVAILABLE, </strong>and we feel that this option should be available in family law.</p><p>We wish to bring this to the attention of the Minister of Finance Frances Fitzgerald and request that this fee be removed, without legal representation our clients are given the limited option or self representing or withdrawing.</p><p>Please help us make this issue a priority,</p><p>Thank You. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>