Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Patsy McGlone on 22 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Patsy McGlone
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 22 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5638976

Text

Yes, and you will appreciate that there have been many other issues for the Committee to deal with. I thank you for your engagement with the amendments that I have had the opportunity to bring before the House. We will see how they work out. However, you will accept that it is important. I have been there and worn that T-shirt on many occasions when we have wanted to make sure that things are done properly, with the proper consultation and collaboration that needs to be done. I say that genuinely, because I have sat on the other side of the Chamber, and it is not a good place to be when things have not been done properly by the Department or by officials. You mentioned the new provision for remuneration orders, Minister. While the Department argues that it provides flexibility, legitimate questions remain about whether it also reduces the degree of independent assessment currently provided by the taxation process and places greater control in the hands of the Department. Stakeholders have warned that the Assembly has been asked to approve a framework before any clear alternative system has been developed or consulted on. That is a wider lesson that we should be mindful of. The Bar has also drawn attention to the experience in England and Wales following the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, commonly known as LASPO. The evidence from that period shows what can happen when access to justice is weakened through structural reform. Large numbers of legal aid providers disappeared, unmet legal need increased and increasing numbers of people were left unable to access legal support when they needed it most. The consequences did not simply disappear; they were displaced into public services, the offices of elected representatives, believe it or not, and other parts of the system. None of us should want to repeat any of those mistakes if they did materialise.
Yes.
I get that, Minister. The point that I am making, whenever I get to it, is that we want to arrive at a situation that was eventually arrived at last week around the pay, and that is by the involvement of professionals. I am sure that you will be the first to accept that many of those people are professionals. Indeed, the Department, and other Departments, engage them periodically to fight their cases. These are professional people who might even bring some very good ideas and thoughts to the table as to how the matter can be addressed. None of us wants to be in a situation where people are screwing the system, or even where there is fraud, which you raised earlier. We do not want to be in that type of situation. We want people to have access to justice. We want people to get a good rate of pay for what they do, and we want those who need access to justice to get it.

490 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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