Seán Kyne
Question:154. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will report on the changes to the private practitioners scheme in respect of legal aid in the District Court. [40022/13]
View answerWednesday, 25 September 2013
Questions (154)
Written answers
I wish to inform the Deputy that I have no function or responsibility in relation to the matter raised. Under the terms of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, as passed by the Oireachtas, the Legal Aid Board is independent in the operation of its functions and decisions on individual cases are a matter for the Board.
However, to be of assistance I have contacted the Legal Aid Board for the information requested by the Deputy.
I am informed that the Board has not made any changes to its scheme of referrals to private solicitors for certain family law matters in the District Court. However, for budgetary reasons, it is required to manage the number of referrals and on occasions instructions are given to its local offices (law centres) to limit the number of referrals that may be made. In the first eight months of this year 4,026 such cases were referred to private solicitors compared with 3,107 referrals in the same period in 2012.
I am conscious that the Board may not be able to sustain this level of increase and I am also aware that they are giving careful consideration to the criteria for referrals with a view to ensuring that they get maximum value from the scheme.