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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 5 Mar 1997

Vol. 475 No. 8

Written Answers. - Legal Aid Centres.

Seán Doherty

Ceist:

101 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the cost of each centre operated under the Legal Aid Board on a yearly basis under the headings of cost of building, either purchase or rental, running costs including electricity, and stationery, staffing costs and other costs; the number of centres currently in existence; the number of centres which are in properties owned by the State, leased by the State or rented by the State in short-term lettings; the number of persons employed by the Civil Legal Board and for the provision of legal services, excluding head office staff, under the headings of solicitors, legal executives, secretarial or ancillary and support staff; the number of staff employed by the Civil Legal Aid Board in Head Office; and the various grades of staff therein. [6253/97]

Details of approximate expenditure for 1996 in respect of each law centre operated by the Legal Aid Board, together with the staffing details of the board's law centres and its head office, are in the following tabular statements which I propose to have circulated in the Official Report. I would draw the Deputy's attention to the fact that the law centres at Navan and Cavan opened in the latter part of 1996 and the law centres at Newbridge and Tullamore opened in 1997.

There are 30 full-time law centres in operation at present. Of these, the law centre at Waterford is owned by the Legal Aid Board and the other 29 are leased by the board.
The Legal Aid Board has an authorised staff complement of 224 and has two extra staff who are on loan from other Government Departments and offices. In addition, the board has authority to employ a Grade A solicitor and a clerical assistant-typist to operate the private practitioner scheme. At present it has 14 staff vacancies, all of which are in the clerical grades.
Legal Aid Board
Estimate of Expenditure per Centre 1996

Wages and Salaries

Rent on Leases

Establishment costs (incl. ESB)

Other Running Costs

Total Costs

Ormond Quay

237,187

19,675

96,977

67,359

421,198

Gardiner Street

264,527

20,736

32,040

117,524

434,827

Tallaght

156,279

23,027

12,687

75,201

267,194

Clondalkin

177,853

24,121

11,540

76,679

290,193

Finglas

156,019

20,520

10,558

76,153

263,250

Athlone

91,742

7,001

6,673

52,758

158,174

Castlebar

93,875

11,850

4,446

28,868

139,039

Cork North

171,346

38,334

111,748

164,566

485,994

Cork South

179,657

20,551

8,607

74,985

283,800

Dundalk

65,861

9,556

3,269

53,578

132,264

Galway

142,832

15,000

7,730

68,890

234,452

Letterkenny

77,671

17,136

2,678

56,392

153,877

Limerick

113,611

12,000

5,875

51,871

183,357

Sligo

55,484

6,000

3,944

22,198

87,626

Tralee

86,632

7,100

4,726

31,588

130,046

*Waterford

93,533

nil

7,024

44,435

144,992

Nenagh

83,191

7,500

4,293

40,248

135,232

**Longford

49,413

2,650

39,117

91,180

Kilkenny

82,724

5,050

3,201

36,288

127,263

Portlaoise

82,234

4,025

4,424

27,111

117,794

Blanchardstown

124,597

23,909

8,227

50,072

206,805

Wicklow

89,666

11,050

5,695

10,589

117,000

Monaghan

51,571

12,125

55,443

17,554

136,693

Wexford

84,794

8,000

36,173

40,241

169,208

Ennis

81,140

12,150

6,571

27,053

126,914

Mount Street

191,096

49,000

21,391

96,673

358,160

Navan

11,216

12,750

33,439

27,386

84,791

**Newbridge

49,740

49,740

Cavan

5,069

5,516

21,900

20,701

53,186

**Tullamore

30,425

2,844

33,269

Total

3,100,819

403,689

614,095

1,498,921

5,617,518

* Purchase price of £51,404. (This is inclusive of the cost of renovations.)
** Payments of any outstanding rents for 1996 have yet to be made.
Staffing
Law Centres

Solicitor Grade C

9

Solicitor Grade B

32

Solicitor Grade A

40

Executive Officer

1

Law Clerk

31

Clerical Officer

6

Clerical Assistant-Typist

75

Total

194

Head Office

Chief Executive

1

Assistant Chief Executive

3

Higher Executive Officer

8

Executive Officer

5

Staff Officer

1

Clerical Officer

6

Clerical Assistant-Typist*

9

Solicitor Grade A*

1

Total

34

*One CA-T and one Solicitor Grade A employed in the private practitioners scheme.
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