Vol. 344 No. 7
asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons who applied for legal aid under the scheme announced by him in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982; the number refused; the number appealed; the number successful; and if he will provide such information in respect of each legal aid centre for each of those years.
996.
asked the Minister for Justice the average time taken between the lodging of an appeal against a refusal to provide legal aid and the determination of the appeal; the composition of each appeal board; and how frequently each appeal board meets.
Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 995 and 996 together.
Under the provisions of section 9.2.1 of the scheme of Civil Legal Aid and Advice, the Legal Aid Board is obliged to make an annual report to the Minister for Justice on the operation of the Scheme and copies of these are required to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas by the Minister for Justice. The board's published reports for the years 1980 and 1981 contain the information requested by the Deputy in regard to applications for and refusals of legal aid and I expect that similar information in respect of the board's operations in 1982 will be contained in the board's report for that year when it is published.
In addition the board have provided the following information in relation to appeals against refusals to grant legal aid.
|
Year |
No. of cases Appealed |
Granted |
Refused |
|
1980 |
— |
— |
— |
|
1981 |
19 |
7 |
12 |
|
1982 |
38 |
22 |
16 |
The board have informed me that the appeal committee normally meet once every month. It consists of the chairman of the board who is a senior counsel and four ordinary members of the board, of whom two are practising barristers or solicitors.
I am informed that none of the remaining statistics requested by the Deputy is available and they could not be compiled without serious disruption of the board's work.
