I propose to take Questions Nos. 1365 and 1367 together.
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 a person who has insufficient means in criminal proceedings.
Under the Scheme, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of legal aid.
An applicant for legal aid must satisfy the court that their means are insufficient to enable them to pay for legal aid themselves. 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.
Criminal prosecutions originate in the District Court and if so satisfied, the Judge will grant a criminal legal aid certificate.
It is not possible to provide the data for the relevant years as figures are not kept in such a way as to be able to provide the breakdown requested.
However, expenditure data is available and the costs for the main Criminal Legal Aid Scheme for each of the years 2016 to 2021 (to end June) was as follows:
Year
|
Expenditure
|
2016
|
€52.9 million
|
2017
|
€58.1million
|
2018
|
€64.8 million
|
2019
|
€65.1 million
|
2020
|
€62.2 million
|
2021 (to end June)
|
€33.0 million
|
Payments to legal practitioners for each of the years 2016 to 2020 was as follows:
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
2020
|
Solicitors
|
29.3M
|
32.2M
|
32.8M
|
34.4M
|
34.2M
|
Counsel
|
19.8M
|
21.5M
|
24.4M
|
23.1M
|
23.3M
|
I hope this information is of assistance to the Deputy.