To ask the Minister of Finance for his assessment of whether the current legal aid framework for non-molestation orders is sufficiently resilient to protect victims during periods of widespread withdrawal of legal services.

Legal aid is available to anyone seeking the protection of a non-molestation order, though some applicants will need to make a modest contribution towards the costs of their representation. This is intended to ensure that no-one is denied access to the protection that they need as a result of financial considerations.

The representation provided through the legal aid system is, of course, delivered by independent legal professionals, and the system is critically dependent on the availability of such professionals willing to provide these services. Until now, non-molestation order proceedings have not been affected by any withdrawal of services. Given the acute and serious nature of the danger that non-molestation orders protect against, I would not expect them to be affected by any future withdrawal.

I am conscious of the serious impact of the current action of the Criminal Bar Association, in particular of its impact on vulnerable victims and witnesses involved in criminal proceedings. In addition to the work currently under way to resolve this issue, I have tasked Departmental officials with developing a range of options to protect users of the justice system from similar issues should they arise in future.