Vol. 537 No. 5
479 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the law services which will be provided for persons in the Dublin South-East constituency shortly should closure of the law centre at 47 Upper Mount Street take place later in 2001, as it will effectively leave constituents with no law centre on the south side of the city; if he intends to provide a law centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16762/01]
480 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he intends to provide services for clients in the Dublin south- east region who are represented by the law centre at 47 Upper Mount Street, comprising of 69% of the workload coming from clients living in Ringsend, Irishtown, Ranelagh and Harolds Cross due after closure later in 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16763/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 480 together.
The Deputy will be aware that under the terms of the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995, responsibility for the provision of legal services, including the location of law centres, is a matter for the Legal Aid Board.
The Deputy may also be aware that the Mount Street premises was the original head office for the Legal Aid Board and that this premises was retained by the board as a law centre when, arising out of an increase in staff numbers, its head office moved to its present location in St. Stephen's Green House in October 1994. I am informed that the board decided to retain the Mount Street premises, on a temporary basis, as a law centre pending the selection of a premises for a city centre law centre which had been approved on 4 March 1994 by my predecessor, former Deputy Taylor, then Minister for Equality and Law Reform, who had responsibility for civil legal aid at that time.
In relation to arrangements for the present clientele of the Mount Street law centre, the Deputy will be aware that under the terms of the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995, an applicant for legal services may apply to any law centre in the State, regardless of his or her home address. In this regard, law centres serve no particular catchment area and applicants from the greater Dublin area may apply for legal services at any of the Dublin law centres convenient to them.
Indeed, I can inform the Deputy that the present clientele of the Mount Street law centre come from a variety of areas of both the north and south of Dublin city and county and that only 37 out of 442 people who are current clients actually live in what might be regarded as the Mount Street area. For the Deputy's information, I have included details of the postal districts where those clients live in the following table.
I should also mention to the Deputy that the Legal Aid Board operates a private practitioner scheme. Under this scheme applicants are given the option of either going to a private solicitor of their choice from the panel of private practitioners or of having their names added to the waiting list at the law centre. I am informed that there are solicitors from the south city and south county area on the panel.
Finally, I can inform the Deputy that, in view of his interest in this matter, I have requested the board to examine the needs of the Dublin south-east area, as part of its ongoing review of the delivery of legal services.
|
Area |
Number of clients |
|
Dublin 1 |
5 |
|
Dublin 2 |
15 |
|
Dublin 3 |
8 |
|
Dublin 4 |
22 |
|
Dublin 5 |
13 |
|
Dublin 6 |
25 |
|
Dublin 7 |
11 |
|
Dublin 8 |
25 |
|
Dublin 9 |
13 |
|
Dublin 10 |
3 |
|
Dublin 11 |
6 |
|
Dublin 12 |
19 |
|
Dublin 13 |
6 |
|
Dublin 14 |
22 |
|
Dublin 15 |
6 |
|
Dublin 16 |
15 |
|
Dublin 17 |
2 |
|
Dublin 18 |
19 |
|
Dublin 20 |
2 |
|
Dublin 22 |
6 |
|
Dublin 24 |
14 |
|
North County Dublin |
24 |
|
South County Dublin |
98 |
|
Other |
75 |
|
Total |
442 |
