McDowell you are still cool

Looks like I may have spoken to soon. Unlike Fine Gael who have some members that don’t like the idea of a fair trial. Michael seems to have realised the importance of justice and the need for everyone to have a fair trial and get legal aid if they can’t afford it.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Michael McDowell, TD has signed into law new Regulations – the Civil Legal Aid Regulations, 2006 – which update and streamline the means test for qualifying for Civil Legal Aid. The Regulations come into effect from, tomorrow, 1 September 2006.

Under these new Regulations the income limits and allowances which govern eligibility for legal aid have all been increased significantly. For example the upper disposable income limit has been increased from €13,000 to €18,000 and the allowance for a dependant spouse has been increased from €1,900 to €3,500. The allowances for vouched expenditure on accommodation and child-care have also been increased substantially.

In addition, the new Regulations greatly simplify the mechanism for assessing capital assets and provide that the value of a person’s family home will be entirely excluded from this calculation. Under the old Regulations the value of a family home could in some circumstances be taken into account.

Unlike the gun amnesty this seems not to be a silly piece of legislation. I am especially impressed with the exclusion of the value of a person’s family home. In a time of property boom many people on low incomes house values have increased. But that is of little use to them as they are not in a position to sell it anyway. If we want to create an equal society equality in the eyes of the law is the first step. This goes a long way in providing this.
So Michael all is forgiven. You are still cool.