Pat Deering
Question:436. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of money spent on free legal aid in 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012 on a national and regional or county basis. [53744/12]
View answerTuesday, 4 December 2012
Questions (436, 444)
John O'Mahony
Question:444. Deputy John O'Mahony asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of legal aid paid to solicitors in each court area for 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53936/12]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 436 and 444 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, legal aid services within this State are divided into two separate categories, namely civil legal aid through the Legal Aid Board under the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid 1995, and criminal legal aid through the courts and the judiciary under the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962.
I propose to take each in turn as set out below:
Civil Legal Aid
In respect of civil legal aid, the service is provided by the Legal Aid Board and incorporates legal services for asylum seekers. The amount of Exchequer funding provided to the Board since 2009 is set out below. It is not feasible to fully break this figure down on a regional or county basis.
Overall Expenditure Analysis
|
2012 (to Date) (€) |
2011 (€) |
2010 (€) |
2009 (€) |
|
29,940,000 (1) |
30,370,000 |
32,192,000 |
34,640,000 |
This figure incorporates funding for the Family Mediation Service, for which the Board was allocated responsibility from 1 November 2011.
Services are primarily delivered from the Board's law centre network throughout the State. However, it also uses private practitioners (PPs) to complement this service in certain cases, primarily in District Court cases but also in asylum-related matters.
The Board spent the following on the use of private practitioners on Civil Legal Aid during the years 2009 to 2012. It is not possible to break this information down by court area.
Solicitor Expenditure Analysis
|
2012 (€) |
2011 (€) |
2010 (€) |
2009 (€) |
|
1,980,554(2) |
3,008,888 |
3,412,195 |
3,653,778 |
up to and including October 2012
Criminal Legal Aid
The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962, which is the primary legislation covering the operation of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, provides that free legal aid may be granted, in certain circumstances, for the defence of persons of insufficient means in criminal proceedings.
Under the Act, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of legal aid. An applicant for legal aid must establish to the satisfaction of the court that his/her means are insufficient to enable him/her to pay for legal aid him/herself. This is purely a discretionary matter for each court and is not governed by any financial eligibility guidelines. The 1962 Act specifies that the court must also be satisfied that, by reason of the "gravity of the charge" or "exceptional circumstances", it is essential in the interests of justice that the applicant should have legal aid. However, where the charge is one of murder or where an appeal is one from the Court of Criminal Appeal to the Supreme Court, free legal aid is granted merely on the grounds of insufficient means.
Total expenditure on criminal legal aid in 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012 is as follows:
Overall Expenditure Analysis
|
2012 (€) |
2011 (€) |
2010 (€) |
2009 (€) |
|
46,100,000 (3) |
56,100,000 |
56,500,000 |
60,300.000 |
to end-November
It is not possible to give a detailed breakdown of expenditure on a regional or county basis as all barristers addresses are recorded by the Department as the Law Library, Dublin 7. However, I am providing details of amounts paid to solicitors by Court area as detailed in the table below:
|
SOLICITOR EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS |
2012 (€) |
2011 (€) |
2010 (€) |
2009 (€) |
|
Carlow - Circuit |
57,574.65 |
110,579.27 |
85,208.35 |
86,812.95 |
|
Carlow - District |
86,454.73 |
172,011.13 |
110,979.07 |
111,895.65 |
|
Cavan - Circuit |
39,041.32 |
75,799.93 |
49,180.59 |
82,323.71 |
|
Cavan - District |
328,478.57 |
373,700.00 |
374,078.20 |
655,386.66 |
|
Clare - Circuit |
180,938.53 |
153,970.84 |
199,969.41 |
180,068.48 |
|
Clare - District |
309,802.97 |
330,070.00 |
325,824.65 |
394,931.78 |
|
Cork - Circuit |
563,856.91 |
833,394.68 |
870,282.12 |
974,270.45 |
|
Cork - District |
1,561,364.40 |
2,029,225.69 |
2,118,286.99 |
2,194,189.62 |
|
Donegal - Circuit |
123,689.41 |
138,808.33 |
127,808.19 |
240,859.70 |
|
Donegal - District |
320,109.77 |
295,326.29 |
345,231.89 |
446,648.98 |
|
Dublin - Circuit |
4,318,169.18 |
5,295,831.99 |
4,351,441.47 |
4,889,285.72 |
|
Dublin - District |
8,502,064.51 |
10,097,037.54 |
10,593,161.28 |
12,409,068.57 |
|
Galway - Circuit |
184,127.05 |
266,239.77 |
219,393.42 |
157,188.98 |
|
Galway - District |
549,940.45 |
659,923.27 |
593,136.72 |
628,097.69 |
|
Kerry - Circuit |
271,824.48 |
295,924.98 |
237,929.12 |
203,121.98 |
|
Kerry - District |
288,837.78 |
414,138.75 |
504,836.37 |
423,068.31 |
|
Kildare - Circuit |
187,005.90 |
315,410.93 |
250,218.53 |
279,358.07 |
|
Kildare - District |
339,699.43 |
327,306.84 |
327,449.27 |
326,537.90 |
|
Kilkenny - Circuit |
136,511.44 |
109,055.83 |
144,348.22 |
67,813.87 |
|
Kilkenny - District |
118,286.18 |
183,460.78 |
163,346.43 |
108,897.52 |
|
Leitrim - Circuit |
29,019.28 |
18,626.68 |
31,705.55 |
49,458.95 |
|
Leitrim - District |
37,657.35 |
34,998.47 |
40,406.46 |
52,971.41 |
|
Laois - Circuit |
82,763.87 |
78,650.67 |
68,401.20 |
103,677.76 |
|
Laois - District |
153,493.63 |
259,921.65 |
270,491.52 |
234,859.29 |
|
Limerick - Circuit |
366,005.05 |
421,117.32 |
496,568.55 |
430,906.35 |
|
Limerick - District |
901,931.09 |
1,057,068.64 |
1,139,343.88 |
1,350,148.82 |
|
Longford - Circuit |
49,540.69 |
60,818.85 |
82,199.02 |
61,467.36 |
|
Longford - District |
103,453.63 |
290,941.46 |
311,545.69 |
312,588.55 |
|
Louth - Circuit |
192,171.09 |
153,509.92 |
190,028.70 |
189,689.83 |
|
Louth - District |
426,111.72 |
626,762.54 |
614,568.52 |
508,629.73 |
|
Mayo - Circuit |
100,579.58 |
158,655.26 |
159,441.23 |
154,224.69 |
|
Mayo - District |
77,970.97 |
131,077.13 |
105,470.86 |
191,524.94 |
|
Meath - Circuit |
159,797.83 |
154,845.30 |
137,316.62 |
169,943.15 |
|
Meath - District |
329,125.57 |
434,478.53 |
264,238.34 |
310,727.51 |
|
Monaghan - Circuit |
35,634.45 |
43,977.67 |
62,535.97 |
55,917.78 |
|
Monaghan - District |
200,808.61 |
215,208.44 |
245,050.74 |
332,182.07 |
|
Offaly - Circuit |
76,084.99 |
59,270.62 |
57,926.31 |
45,028.12 |
|
Offaly - District |
139,870.98 |
252,319.59 |
189,068.52 |
232,499.03 |
|
Roscommon - Circuit |
33,836.88 |
24,772.75 |
65,038.75 |
108,587.83 |
|
Roscommon - District |
102,365.43 |
125,496.61 |
123,659.70 |
99,261.36 |
|
Sligo - Circuit |
60,781.18 |
84,014.35 |
74,801.80 |
82,717.77 |
|
Sligo - District |
203,834.56 |
170,863.21 |
171,363.00 |
186,152.57 |
|
Tipperary - Circuit |
263,513.79 |
180,526.41 |
244,740.87 |
248,599.33 |
|
Tipperary - District |
422,398.26 |
444,218.46 |
476,327.65 |
429,278.09 |
|
Waterford - Circuit |
294,612.59 |
451,147.50 |
124,157.66 |
305,165.68 |
|
Waterford - District |
374,786.59 |
645,761.80 |
388,982.75 |
636,494.06 |
|
Westmeath - Circuit |
125,019.12 |
174,288.86 |
182,704.68 |
269,080.84 |
|
Westmeath - District |
185,069.37 |
341,804.13 |
480,335.04 |
462,013.60 |
|
Wexford - Circuit |
233,751.91 |
160,284.06 |
172,537.35 |
168,119.93 |
|
Wexford - District |
313,079.89 |
377,166.45 |
350,021.08 |
406,661.57 |
|
Wicklow - Circuit |
212,711.35 |
211,070.21 |
305,574.85 |
183,784.38 |
|
Wicklow - District |
303,034.70 |
392,149.97 |
366,691.68 |
452,318.95 |
|
High Court - Dublin |
1,329.63 |
3,052.39 |
0.00 |
2,490.75 |
|
Special Criminal Court |
230,503.22 |
131,094.65 |
155,294.24 |
209,978.81 |
|
Court of Criminal Appeal |
232,426.38 |
425,273.53 |
542,016.48 |
513,255.91 |
|
Central Criminal Court |
1,350,737.32 |
1,741,419.13 |
1,894,870.78 |
1,801,238.15 |
|
Supreme Court |
556.30 |
6,671.67 |
4,270.21 |
10,674.04 |