Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and join with him in offering condolences to Deputy Verona Murphy. I had not heard about her father passing on. All our thoughts are with her today.

I thank Deputy Grealish for raising this issue. It is a matter of enormous annoyance to people that those who have multiple convictions, who have a history of recidivism, get legal aid paid for by the State which is, of course, paid for by the taxpayer. Many people who I meet regularly raise this issue; the frustration in seeing people committing crimes on bail and in seeing people who have a long criminal record having their solicitor and barrister paid for by the taxpayer and I understand where the Deputy is coming from. However, we have a Constitution and we operate on the basis that people are innocent until proven guilty. Even if somebody has been found guilty twice or three times, that does not necessarily mean that he or she is guilty on every occasion. That is the principle that we have, namely,the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. As has been said centuries ago, better that two or three guilty men should go free than one innocent man be convicted unfairly or inappropriately.

The Deputy touched on the possibility of recouping some of the cost from people who have been convicted, not making the presumption that they may or may not be guilty, but if they receive legal aid and are subsequently found guilty, whether some of the cost could be recouped. That is definitely an idea worth exploring in context of the criminal legal aid Bill and I will certainly raise that with the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and see if it is possible.

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