The Minister for Justice has been urged to set aside current time limits for asylum-seekers to begin High Court judicial review challenges against threatened deportations.
The call from the Free Legal Advice Centres group follows a recent move to curtail State-funded legal services available through the Legal Aid Board.
Due to staff shortages, the board has since the end of last month stopped funding services for asylum-seekers who have failed in their appeals against deportation and want to take a judicial review challenge in the High Court.
Asylum-seekers have 14 days to seek leave for such judicial reviews, compared with up to six months for non-asylum-seekers.
The staff shortages affect the Refugee Legal Service, a specialist branch of the board. It handled 90 judicial reviews for the year ending last February.
The Free Legal Advice Centres group, which monitors the provision of legal aid services, claims the board is breaching its statutory duties. Its chairwoman, Ms Siobhan Phelan, said: "We are seeking a public commitment from the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform that he will not attempt to rely on the 14-day time limit in judicial review proceedings where legal advice and assistance has not been made available to applicants of the Refugee Legal Service."
Fine Gael's deputy justice spokesman, Mr Billy Timmins, urged the Minister to outline what legal aid asylum-seekers were entitled to.
The Legal Aid Board has said it will review its position on judicial reviews in the coming days and is continuing to fund cases taken by asylum-seekers up until the judicial review stage. It is also increasing its staff from 56 to 140 by the end of next June and opening a new premises.