---

Co-located legal aid and mediation centre set for ministerial opening

Justice minister Charlie Flanagan will officially open the co-located Portlaoise Law Centre and Mediation Centre on Friday 21 June at 2pm.

The objective of co-locating law centres and mediation centres is to encourage more persons requesting legal services in a family dispute to seek to resolve it with the assistance of a mediator, rather than through a court process. 

The new co-located office in Portlaoise is situated at Unit 26, 1^st Floor, Gandon Court, Portlaoise. 

The Legal Aid Board is the statutory, independent body responsible for the provision of civil legal aid and advice to persons of modest means, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995.

Amended

The act was amended by section 54 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, which gave the board the additional responsibility to provide a family mediation service. 

Civil legal aid and advice is provided primarily through a network of 30 law centres and two specialist offices, and though private solicitors paid on a fee-per-case basis.  Family mediation services are provided through eight full-time and nine part-time offices.