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Legal Aid Services.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 June 2004

Tuesday, 1 June 2004

Questions (287, 288, 289, 290, 291)

Seán Crowe

Question:

306 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the length of waiting lists for free legal aid for clients in the various centres throughout the State; and if he has plans to release additional funding to address the increased demands for this service. [16136/04]

View answer

Written answers

The Legal Aid Board does not process information relating to the length of waiting lists for free legal aid. However, it does record the length of time the person longest on the waiting list has waited. The following table shows the length of time the person longest on the waiting list has waited as of April 2004 by law centre.

The board operates a procedure whereby priority is accorded for certain categories of cases over other cases, for example, domestic violence, child care and cases where there are time limits. These cases are dealt with immediately. In 2003, the total number of priority appointments offered by law centres was approximately 1,500, or almost 22% of the total number of appointments offered to new clients during the year. The board continually monitors the waiting times and is seeking to utilise resources in such a way as to reduce them at centres with particularly long waiting times.

With regard to the position of additional funding, funding is allocated to the board by way of grant-in-aid and is not allocated by me to individual law centres. In this regard, the Deputy may be interested to note that grant-in-aid for 2004 is €18.388 million, an increase of almost 5% over the 2003 provision of €17.539 million. The level of resources provided to the Legal Aid Board in recent years has increased significantly. In 1997 the grant-in-aid available to the board was €10.656 million. The figure for 2004 represents an increase of almost 73% during this period.

Law Centre

Maximum Waiting Time in Months in April 2004

Athlone

3.00

Castlebar

2.00

Cavan

2.75

Cork: Popes Quay

7.00

Cork: South Mall

12.00

Blanchardstown

9.75

Clondalkin

3.00

Finglas

13.75

Gardiner Street

7.25

Brunswick Street

11.50

Ormond Quay

3.00

Tallaght

10.75

Dundalk

7.50

Ennis

12.25

Galway

7.00

Kilkenny

12.25

Letterkenny

9.50

Limerick

5.00

Longford

0.00

Monaghan

3.50

Navan

11.75

Nenagh

4.50

Newbridge

12.00

Port Laoise

17.00

Sligo

5.00

Tralee

5.00

Tullamore

2.25

Waterford

4.50

Wexford

6.50

Wicklow

10.00

Seán Crowe

Question:

307 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will confirm that many clients requesting assistance at the Tallaght free legal aid centre have to wait up to six months and will he be allocating extra funding for this increasingly busy centre. [16137/04]

View answer

The Legal Aid Board does not process information relating to an average waiting time for people seeking its services. However, it does record the length of time the person longest on the waiting list has waited. In this regard, the longest a person has waited, as at 30 April 2004, for legal services at the Tallaght law centre is 10.75 months.

The board operates a procedure whereby priority is accorded for certain categories of cases over others, for example, domestic violence, child care and cases where there are time limits and these are dealt with immediately. In 2003, the total number of priority appointments offered by law centres was approximately 1,500, or almost 22% of the total number of appointments offered to new clients during the year. The Legal Aid Board continuously monitors the waiting times and is seeking to utilise resources in such a way as to reduce them at centres with particularly long waiting times. The board is offering applicants an alternative law centre where waiting times are shorter.

With regard to the position of allocating extra funding for this centre, funding is allocated to the board by way of grant-in-aid and is not allocated by me to individual law centres. In this regard, the Deputy may be interested to note that the grant-in-aid for 2004 is €18.388 million compared with €17.539 million in 2003. This represents an increase of almost 5% over last years provision and an increase of 71% in funding since 1997.

Seán Crowe

Question:

308 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position on long term funding for legal aid centres in the Blanchardstown and Finglas areas; and if there are plans to close them and re-locate them to the city centre. [16154/04]

View answer

Tony Gregory

Question:

316 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps he will take to ensure that the law centres in Finglas and Blanchardstown, Dublin will remain open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16224/04]

View answer

Pat Carey

Question:

320 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if there are proposals by the Legal Aid Board to reduce the number of centres it operates in the Dublin area; if there are plans to downsize or close the Finglas office of the board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16249/04]

View answer

I propose to take Questions Nos. 308, 316 and 320 together.

The Deputies will be aware that, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, the Legal Aid Board is independent in the exercise of its functions. In particular, section 30 of the Act provides that responsibility for determining how legal services should be provided is solely a matter for the Legal Aid Board. The responsibility of the board in this regard includes decisions in relation to the location of law centres.

I am sure that the Deputies will appreciate that the aim of the Legal Aid Board is to provide a cost effective and professional service, in a timely manner, to the greatest number of persons possible within the level of resources available to it. In this regard the board, as part of its remit, constantly monitors the operation of its law centre network, including the location of law centres, with a view to ensuring that its services are available to the greatest number of people from within its available resources.

As part of this process, I understand that the board is examining the possible benefits of relocating some or all of its suburban law centres in Dublin to locations in the city centre, to bring them closer to the courts. However I have not received any concrete proposals in this regard from the board and I would expect that any such proposal would take into account any proposals by the Courts Service in relation to the location of family law court sittings.

With regard to the position on long term funding for legal aid centres, I can inform the Deputies that funding is allocated to the board, by way of a grant-in-aid and that funding is not allocated by me to individual law centres. In this regard the Deputies may be interested to note that the grant-in-aid to the Legal Aid Board for this year is €18.388 million, an increase of almost 5% over the 2003 provision of €17.539 million. The level of resources provided to the Legal Aid Board in recent years has increased significantly. In 1997 the grant-in-aid available to the board was €10.656 million. The figure for 2004 represents an increase of almost 73% during this period. During this period, sanction to employ additional staff was conveyed to the board. Since 1997 sanctioned posts in the board's law centre network increased from 191 to 215, of which 89 are solicitor posts, an increase of eight solicitor posts.

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