Vol. 574 No. 1
471 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has received information regarding proposed reorganisation of the Legal Aid Board and its local offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26425/03]
Under the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996, the Legal Aid Board has sole responsibility for deciding on the provision of service to clients, including the location of law centres.
The board, as part of its remit, constantly monitors the operation of its law centre network, including the location of law centres, with a view to ensuring that its services are available to the greatest number of people from within its available resources. As part of this process, I understand that the board is examining the possible benefits of relocating some or all of its suburban law centres in Dublin to locations in the city centre, to bring them closer to the courts. However I have not received any concrete proposals in this regard and would expect that any such proposal would take into account any proposals by the Courts Service in relation to the location of family law court sittings.
