Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is examining proposals aimed at improving access to free legal aid for victims of sexual abuse.
The Minister said his department was in discussions with the Legal Aid Board on the introduction of a scheme for parties in abuse cases in line with a recommendation of the Ferns report.
He described as "very attractive" the report's recommendation that both an accused priest and a complainant against such a priest be granted legal aid irrespective of their means.
"Nobody should be debarred from seeking justice for want of finances," said Mr McDowell.
However, he said it was "a bit unlikely" that one could have a special scheme for clerical abuse cases, and one had to ask whether it was practicable or right to ringfence legal aid to that field.
The department is also in discussions with the board on increasing the allowances used for the purpose of means-testing for legal aid.
Speaking at the publication of the board's annual report for 2004 yesterday, its director Frank Brady said it was reasonably confident the threshold for free legal aid - last revised in 2002 - would be raised next year.
The board said it already had a civil legal aid service for complainants in rape and certain sexual assault cases. Nine complainants successfully applied for legal representation last year to defend their reputation from attack in sexual assault cases where they would not otherwise have been represented.
The board's chairwoman Anne Colley said waiting times for legal advice had reduced dramatically in the past year thanks to additional resources from the department. By the end of last month, the longest anyone had to wait for an appointment with a solicitor was four months, in both Galway and Portlaoise.
At the end of 2004 the longest waiting time was 20 months, in Kildare. It was one of seven law centres with waiting times of 10 months or more. Just three of the State's 23 remaining law centres had waiting times of two months or less in 2004.
The board said that in absolute terms the number of people waiting for free legal aid had been cut by half to 1,000 by the end of last month.
Ms Colley said the board wished to ensure that all people applying for legal aid received a service within four months.
Noeline Blackwell, director general of the independent Free Legal Advice Centre, welcomed the reduction in waiting times, but said there were still serious flaws with the legal aid scheme.
She said it was currently available only to those living entirely on social welfare or on extremely low incomes. As well as overhauling the means test, she said, the scope of the scheme should be extended to allow people with pressing problems in social welfare, housing, immigration, employment, and debt law to be able to access legal aid.
Some 70 per cent of services provided by the Legal Aid Board last year were in family law.
