Vol. 435 No. 6
25 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice the annual cost for free legal aid granted by the State; the cost broken down over the various categories of cases; and if there are any limits on the number of occasions per year that one can be granted legal aid.
The total cost of the criminal legal aid scheme for the year ended 31 December, 1992 was £3.869 million. This amount included a sum of £615,050 in respect of Value Added Tax and was also subject to deductions totalling £891,466 in respect of withholding tax resulting in a net cost to the Exchequer of £2,362,484. A sum of £5.92 million was allocated for expenditure under the scheme in 1993.
The statistical information sought by the Deputy in respect of the various categories of cases is not available. It would require a very considerable expenditure of staff time to provide it and, while I appreciate the Deputy's concern about the subject, I do not think that the commitment of staff resources which would be necessary to extract the particular statistical information could be justified.
The grant of free legal aid in criminal cases is, at all times, a matter for the relevant court to decide in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962.
