I can inform the Deputy that the rent for the Legal Aid Board's office at Montague Street is €151,000 per annum. Eleven Legal Aid Board staff are located at this office. The cost for staff travelling between Dublin and Cahirciveen during 2003 to date was €16,775, inclusive of travelling expenses and subsistence allowance.
The Deputy will be aware that over half of the board's staff are, of necessity, based in Dublin. This includes over 100 members of staff, including 19 solicitors, employed in the Refugee Legal Service and staff employed throughout the Dublin law centre network, of whom 26 are solicitors. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that management staff located at the board's offices in Montague Street have a management function in relation to these staff, including some personnel, recruitment and IT functions as well as providing a co-ordination function with the staff unions and such bodies as the Bar Council and the Law Society, which are also Dublin based. I have no plans to alter the present arrangement with regard to the Legal Aid Board's head office.