asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware that people have been and are being turned away from the legal aid centres recently set up by the Government; if he proposes to allocate more staff to them; and if he will make a statement on the future of these centres.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Legal Aid Centres.
17.
Up to the present the Legal Aid Board have opened seven centres, of which two are in Dublin. I have been informed by the board that there is no problem in dealing immediately with all applications for legal aid received at the five law centres located outside Dublin.
As regards Dublin, a very heavy demand for services was experienced as soon as the centres opened last August. This was undoubtedly due in part to the backlog of cases awaiting the introduction of the scheme and it created teething problems for the centres which became quite difficult late last year. The position has improved since then and, as I shall explain in a moment, a further improvement may be expected very shortly.
I am informed that the present position in the centres is that all cases which are considered urgent by the board's solicitors can be and are dealt with immediately. Non-urgent cases in one centre are given appointments to see a solicitor within seven days while such cases in the other centre are asked to call back or telephone in two weeks when they are either given an appointment to see a solicitor within three weeks or dealt with immediately if circumstances have changed so as to make the matter urgent.
I am assured that there is not, nor has there been, any question of refusing to receive applications. All persons who seek legal aid are invited to complete an official application form when they call to a centre and are assisted in this by the clerical staff if necessary. This happens whether the applicant can be granted an immediate interview with a solicitor or not.
As I have said, the position has already improved since the end of the year but, in addition, measures have been taken to increase the capacity of the Dublin centres. At the request of the board I recently authorised the appointment of four additional solicitors with the necessary support staff for these centres. I am informed that one of the solicitors has already been recruited by the board and that they are in the process of recruiting the other three. This will bring the total number of solicitors employed by the board in Dublin to ten.
In addition the board intend to open a further law centre in Dublin as soon as possible.
Have the teething troubles to which the Minister referred included turning away people because of understandable over-working by the staff engaged in the centres at the time? Does he accept that a number of people did not have the chance to avail of a legal aid service because of lack of facilities which the staff in the centres were given by his Department?
The Deputy probably missed the part of my answer where I dealt with that, where I said that people were not turned away, that appointments were made for people and they came back and kept the appointments.
Would the Minister accept from me that his story is not correct and that people were told "We cannot deal with you" whatever the Minister has in his brief?
A question, please, Deputy.
Having said that, I ask the Minister to accept our good wishes for the recruitment of extra staff which I hope will take place soon and I hope it will not call for further prevarication if there is need for still more extra staff as no doubt will be the case.
Would the Minister accept that the centres are not operating satisfactorily in the case of Donegal? In North East Donegal two members of one family sought advice from the legal centre in Sligo. The second person was told at the centre that they could not deal with him because they were already dealing with the other party. This meant that the second person had to go to Galway. I have asked the Minister to reconsider the position and to take account of the fact that Donegal is somewhat isolated from the other counties. Would it not be possible to look at the whole system and to change it in order that it might be more suitable for people in Donegal?
This is a matter the Deputy should take up with the Legal Aid Board.
I have asked that the centre be set up in Letterkenny. Will the Minister say why this cannot be done?
I should like to explain to the Deputy that this is a new scheme that is just getting off the ground. Within the first year of its operation a number of centres are operating. More centres will be opened as the scheme expands and it is hoped to have them in places such as Letterkenny.
Will the Minister not accept that the system as it is at present operated by way of law centres without access for people to their own solicitors will never be fully successful?
I reject completely what the Deputy says.