Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 February 2013
166. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality when it is expected to reform the legal aid services with particular reference to the need to eliminate waiting lists and curtail costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6229/13]
View answerI wish to inform the Deputy that the provision of legal aid falls within two separate categories, i.e. civil legal aid and criminal legal aid. Details in respect of each category are as follows:
Civil Legal Aid
State funding of €32.9 million was allocated to the Legal Aid Board in 2012 and this level of funding has been maintained for this year. This covers funding for civil legal aid and advice, including legal services for asylum seekers, and also funding for the provision of the Family Mediation Service, for which the Board assumed responsibility in late 2011. There has been a significant increase in demand for civil legal aid services in recent years, with a much greater number of people financially eligible as a result of the economic downturn. Unfortunately, the deterioration in public finances in recent years has meant that it has not been possible to allocate further resources to the Board to meet the increased demand. As a result, the waiting times to access services have lengthened somewhat.
In view of the substantial demand for civil legal aid and the associated waiting times, the Legal Aid Board is focusing on maximising the effectiveness of the resources available to it to deliver a meaningful service. Amongst the measures taken recently to this end are initiatives to increase the use of mediation to resolve family disputes, which leads to reduced legal costs, and the introduction of a 'triage' service to ensure that clients receive initial legal advice within one month of making an application for legal services. The Board is also striving to make its law centre network as effective and efficient as possible and the recent introduction of a new legal case management system will help in this regard. I should also point out that the Board introduced new conditions for retaining barristers in August 2012 which will result in lower fees paid to barristers in cases where they are instructed by Legal Aid Board solicitors.
Criminal Legal Aid
There are no waiting lists associated with the granting or processing of criminal legal aid. As the Deputy may be aware, under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, the judiciary are responsible for the granting of criminal legal aid. The nature of the Scheme is that it is demand-led, driven by the incidence of crime, detection rates and prosecutions of cases through the courts systems. This makes it difficult to anticipate and control costs. A number of measures have been taken however since I took office including a reduction of 10% in the fees payable. A reduction of 50% was also applied to payments in respect of adjourned sentence hearings and travel and subsistence. Following these and other measures introduced in the course of 2011, a 10% reduction in total expenditure was recorded in 2012 compared with 2011 which is the first substantial reduction ever recorded under this Scheme.
In addition, the Working Group on Efficiencies in the Circuit and District Courts has been pursuing initiatives which can contribute to achieving efficiencies and cost reductions in the system such as, for example, introducing a pilot programme centralising custody cases in four court Districts and the introduction of the pre-trial procedure for criminal trials in the Dublin, Midland and South Eastern Circuits.
Finally, a new Legal Aid Bill is planned to update and strengthen the system of granting legal aid including transferring responsibility for the administration of the Scheme to the Legal Aid Board. I hope it will be possible to publish the Bill during the course of this year.
