Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
731. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice the amounts that have been spent by the Legal Aid Board to personal insolvency practitioners, solicitors and barristers under the personal insolvency arrangement review legal aid service in 2021 and to date in 2022; the details of these payments; the companies that received same; the amount that was received by each company. [37320/22]
View answer732. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice the amounts that have been accrued but are as yet unpaid by the Legal Aid Board to personal insolvency practitioners, solicitors and barristers under the personal insolvency arrangement review legal aid service since its inception, from 2016 to date in 2022; the details of these liabilities; and the companies to whom they are owed. [37321/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 731 and 732 together.
The Government is committed to providing assistance to people who may be in danger of losing their home.
In October 2016, the then Minister for Justice and Equality launched Abhaile, the Government’s free mortgage arrears support service. Abhaile is jointly coordinated and funded by my Department and the Department of Social Protection, under a Joint Steering Board and a Joint Working Group, which include the implementing bodies. The Service’s implementing bodies are the Citizens Information Board (which includes the Money Advice and Budgeting Service), the Insolvency Service of Ireland, the Legal Aid Board and the Courts Service.
The goal of Abhaile is to meet the Government’s commitment to keeping people in their own homes. In providing legal aid for personal insolvency court reviews as part of Abhaile, the Government seeks to keep as many people in their homes as possible. Legal aid includes the services of a solicitor from the Legal Aid Board’s Abhaile Solicitors Panel and payment to the personal insolvency practitioner in respect of expenses that occur in making the section 115A application. Prior to 1 March 2019, the services of Junior Counsel were funded in all s115A applications. Since that date, the services of Counsel may be sought on a case by case basis, as is the case in other civil legal aid matters.
The Deputy will be aware that in 2021, the Oireachtas enacted the Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2021, which I brought forward with the aim of ensuring access to the PIA review process by those whose debts occurred after 1 January 2015 and, in particular, those whose debts may have arisen as a result of the restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Schedule A in the attached document sets out in tabular format the amounts spent by the Legal Aid Board on solicitors, barristers and personal insolvency practitioners for applications under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 in 2021 and in the year 2022 up until 30 June 2022.
Schedule B in the attached document sets out in tabular format the amount paid by the Legal Aid Board to each individual solicitor, barrister and personal insolvency practitioner for applications under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 in 2021 and in the year 2022 up until 30 June 2022.
Schedule C in the attached document sets out in tabular format the total amounts incurred but not yet paid by the Legal Aid Board in connection with solicitors, barristers and personal insolvency practitioners for applications under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012, as at 30 June 2022.
The Legal Aid Board informs me that it has recently changed its procedures to obtain the name of the solicitor/Counsel from the PIP at the outset of the case. However, this information has been recorded only for relatively recently started cases and not for historical cases and, therefore, the Board is unable to provide this information on an individualised basis.
