The Deputy will be aware that the grant-in-aid to the Legal Aid Board for this year is €17.539 million. While this figure represents a slight decrease from the grant-in-aid for last year –€17,636 million – it still represents a significant increase in funding for the board in recent years, up from €10.656 million in 1997 to €17.539 million in 2003, an increase of almost 65%.
During this period, sanction to employ additional staff was conveyed to the board. Since 1997 sanctioned posts in the board's law centre network increased from 191 to 215, of which 89 are solicitor posts, an increase of eight solicitor posts. These combined additional resources have contributed to a significant improvement in waiting times throughout the board's law centre network during this period.