Legal Aid

The Legal Aid Board is an independent statutory body responsible for the provision of legal aid for the administration of a number of ad hoc legal aid schemes connected with Criminal matters.  Please see their website for more information: Legal Aid Board. They also administer three non-statutory Criminal Legal Aid Schemes on behalf of the Department of Justice and Equality.

Further information on Legal Aid is available on the Citizens Information website.

Solicitors Criminal Legal Aid Panel 2024 and into the future

The processing for inclusion on the Criminal Legal Aid Panel for solicitors was moved to the Courts Service Centralised Office in Castlebar Courthouse, Co. Mayo at the end of 2021.  Details of the new process were circulated to all solicitors through the Law Society and were published on the Courts Service website.

At present, in order to be placed on the panel, solicitors are required to submit a completed Application Form (in Excel format) together with a copy of their current eTax Clearance Certificate (eTC) in December each year.  The Application Form can be found below.

Applications for inclusion on the 2024 panel must be received in the Courts Service Centralised Office in Castlebar Courthouse by 20 December 2023 in order to be included on next year’s panel. This is a direction from the Department of Justice and not the Courts Service, as the final date for receiving applications was decided by the Criminal Legal Aid Unit, taking into consideration S.I. No. 135/1999.

It is proposed that from December 2024 onwards, solicitors who are on the Criminal Legal Aid Panel will remain on the Panel without having to reapply each year in the future.  However, solicitors will be required to submit an up-to-date eTC , on an annual basis, to receive payment the following year for criminal legal aid work.

From December 2024, once an eTC is submitted by mid-December, payments can be made from January to December of the following year.  If the eTC is submitted late, payments will only commence from the date the eTC is received and will continue to be paid to the end of the calendar year.  A new eTC will have to be submitted in December again for payments for the following year.  Queries regarding the backdating of legal aid claims should continue to be referred to Department of Justice at criminallegalaid@justice.ie

No solicitor will be paid for criminal legal aid work if an eTC has not been submitted.  Payments will only be made from the date the eTC is received.  No arrears will be paid for the period during which an eTC had not been supplied.  This is a direction from the Department of Justice and not the Courts Service.

Where a solicitor changes company or sets up as a separate entity they should complete the Application form and submit it with their eTC to the Centralised Legal Aid Panel section in the Courts Service – email: legalaidpanel@courts.ie.  It is the responsibility of individual solicitors to submit their eTC on time.

Please note that from 2024 onwards, for those solicitors who are not sole traders but employees of a legal firm, your employer’s tax number will also be required. The Department of Justice will check the tax clearance status of every company to be paid under Criminal Legal Aid from 2024. Any company whose tax clearance is not up to date will not be paid.

The contact information for Backdating queries, Payment queries and Panel queries is attached.

Contact information for query purposes:

Forms and Procedures

- Completing the Legal Aid Panel Application Form (PDF)
- Application Form (Excel)

Reminder Letter: Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) (Tax Clearance Certificate) Regulations, 1999 (S.I. No. 135 of 1999)