Legal Aid Service Data

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Ceisteanna (139)

John Deasy

Ceist:

139. Deputy John Deasy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for free legal aid granted in each District Court and Circuit Court area in the past three years; and the cost of the scheme in each court area over this period. [18328/17]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality

The position in relation to applications under the Criminal Legal Aid Act 1962, as amended and the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, is set out below.

Criminal Legal Aid

Under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of legal aid. An applicant for legal aid must establish to the satisfaction of the court that their means are insufficient to enable them to pay for legal aid themselves. The 1962 Act specifies that the court must also be satisfied that, by reason of the "gravity of the charge" or "exceptional circumstances", it is essential in the interests of justice that the applicant should have legal aid. Criminal prosecutions originate in the District Court and if so satisfied, the Judge will grant a criminal legal aid certificate. The following table below provides the number of legal aid certificates issued by District Court area. Figures are not kept in such a way as to be able to provide a breakdown of the number of applications for free legal aid granted in the Circuit Court. Total expenditure on criminal legal aid for each of the past three years is as follows - 2014 - €49.890 million; 2015 - €50.879 million; 2016 - €52.998 million. It should be noted that some expenditure may relate to applications received in a previous year.

Court Area Name	No of Applications 2014	No of Applications 2015	No of Applications 2016
ABBEYFEALE	10	0	0
ACAILL	1	5	6
AN CLOCHAN LIATH	26	33	19
AN DAINGEAN	12	18	35
AN FAL CARRACH	25	30	22
ARDEE	95	103	94
ARKLOW	239	239	252
ATHLONE	337	417	511
ATHY	152	163	173
BALLAGHADERREEN	99	63	73
BALLINA	90	124	103
BALLINASLOE	292	255	352
BALLYSHANNON	71	67	80
BANDON	200	232	127
BANTRY	100	105	79
BEAL AN MHUIRTHEAD	45	19	26
BRAY	777	812	898
BUNCRANA	82	97	88
CAHIRCIVEEN	27	24	19
CARLOW	679	722	727
CARNDONAGH	59	51	44
CARRICK ON SHANNON	130	146	135
CARRICK ON SUIR	125	98	96
CARRICKMACROSS	370	332	343
CASHEL	155	150	161
CASTLEBAR	152	141	178
CASTLEREA	231	223	266
CAVAN	788	724	706
CILL RONAIN	3	1	2
CLIFDEN	27	24	18
CLONAKILTY	125	106	86
CLONMEL	370	367	381
CORK CITY	3662	4005	3835
DOIRE AN FHEICH	44	23	26
DONEGAL	41	46	45
DROGHEDA	746	817	952
DUBLIN METROPOLITAN DISTRICT	23175	24641	26616
DUNDALK	646	757	845
DUNGARVAN	208	219	216
ENNIS	1441	1389	1490
FERMOY	284	269	288
GALWAY	1088	1190	1124
GOREY	604	702	702
GORT	98	117	105
KENMARE	16	32	24
KILCOCK	205	175	184
KILKENNY	609	801	837
KILLALOE	158	138	142
KILLARNEY	216	261	198
KILLORGLIN	52	69	59
KILRUSH	183	257	193
KINSALE	2	0	0
LETTERKENNY	584	642	671
LISMORE	29	27	27
LISTOWEL	132	167	147
LONGFORD	275	327	450
LOUGHREA	122	147	225
MACROOM	97	90	55
MALLOW	450	493	567
MANORHAMILTON	13	19	13
MIDLETON	321	340	430
MONAGHAN	401	318	371
MULLINGAR	449	385	404
NA GLEANNTA	26	14	21
NAAS	998	899	933
NAVAN	906	908	222
NENAGH	442	576	502
NEWCASTLE WEST	262	307	327
PORTLAOISE	704	728	773
ROSCOMMON	113	142	189
SKIBBEREEN	75	44	52
SLIGO	397	406	389
STROKESTOWN	30	35	25
THURLES	346	344	351
TIPPERARY	234	228	241
TRALEE	576	647	583
TRIM	243	299	114
TUAM	129	161	205
TUBBERCURRY	44	37	37
TULLAMORE	559	512	503
VIRGINIA	362	304	274
WATERFORD CITY	1404	1371	1395
WESTPORT	38	31	57
WEXFORD	666	817	689
WICKLOW	215	284	296
YOUGHAL	114	89	98
Total Applications	51128	53937	55617

It should noted that both Abbeyfeale and Kinsale closed in 2014 hence there are no certificates issued in 2015 and 2016.

Civil Legal Aid

I am informed by the Legal Aid Board that they do not maintain data in relation to the particular District Court Area (including the Dublin Metropolitan District) or Circuit Court county in which the legal aid is to be provided. This is because such information is not required to be provided to the Board as part of an application for civil legal aid. Indeed it may be the case at the time of making an application for a legal aid certificate that a solicitor acting for an intended plaintiff may have yet to identify the correct court area in which proceedings should be taken. For similar reasons the Board cannot provide information in relation to the costs of providing services in each District Court Area or Circuit Court county.

The following table provides the number of civil legal aid certificates granted to applicants in connection with intended proceedings in (a) the District Court and (b) the Circuit Court, in each of the last three years at each Legal Aid Board law centre. Also attached are the net costs (less contributions and costs recovered) of running each law centre in the years in question.

These numbers do not include a substantial number of certificates issued out of the Board’s specialist service for family law matters at the Dublin District Court. That service issued 1,865 certificates in 2014, 1,795 certificates in 2015, and 1,724 certificates in 2016, all for matters in the District Court. They also do not include a much smaller number of legal aid certificates issued by the Board’s specialist units for medical negligence, personal injuries nor the costs of operating these units. Nor does it include certificates issued pursuant to the Abhaile scheme (in the second half of 2016).

	2014 District Court	2014 Circuit Court	2015 District Court	2015 Circuit Court	2016 District Court	2016 Circuit Court	2014 Net Costs €000	2015 Net Costs €000	2016 Net Costs €000
Athlone	153	84	165	60	137	82	570	615	683
Blanchardstown	12	106	24	126	25	111	767	580	601
Castlebar	43	70	79	42	75	64	393	452	462
Cavan	60	55	75	67	57	44	398	396	460
Clondalkin	18	64	68	67	86	67	592	569	683
Cork Popes Quay	249	106	209	112	257	144	1,088	1,133	1,206
Cork South Mall	468	91	428	147	426	82	1,166	1,042	1,146
Dundalk	125	70	129	67	101	38	404	394	406
Ennis	174	0	189	76	203	61	496	499	548
Finglas	9	29	25	97	39	124	777	588	578
Galway Francis Street	204	8	231	153	229	146	900	920	851
Galway Seville House	58	27	80	68	64	50	0	22	588
Jervis Street (previously Gardiner Street)	40	103	41	127	66	92	985	1,158	1,455
Kilkenny	247	113	254	136	246	127	632	663	850
Letterkenny	271	113	268	105	243	84	518	554	611
Limerick	246	95	286	132	355	110	509	614	648
Longford	105	63	103	45	145	70	471	468	585
Monaghan	131	171	120	70	111	88	409	581	529
Navan	309	100	269	84	259	89	485	520	520
Nenagh	238	83	276	76	299	44	619	583	582
Newbridge	221	159	200	140	153	109	676	699	746
Portlaoise	126	74	162	97	209	86	488	505	602
Sligo	106	62	108	63	131	58	359	412	484
Smithfield	42	90	43	95	46	74	2,886	3,765	4,138
Tallaght	15	68	14	97	30	75	601	610	668
Tralee	180	68	216	102	223	65	643	638	663
Tullamore	84	72	72	39	83	60	398	397	411
Waterford	176	72	187	62	186	71	588	589	635
Wexford	170	40	170	75	173	57	543	572	1,031
Wicklow	172	85	194	90	197	87	627	617	629