Mr. Philip O'Leary:

As I said, we reduced the number on the waiting list figure from 5,000 to 2,000 and the current trajectory is still downward. I am more interested in how long people have been waiting than in how many are on the list. The number on the list is determined by demand, which can vary from centre to centre and depend on what is happening in society and the legal arena. The real question is for how long people have been waiting to get a service. The board's objective is to have a substantive service available to people within four months of being seen. As we are not meeting that objective in every centre in the country, we are trying to reach that point. In addition, during the term of the last board we introduced what was known as a triage system, whereby if a person did not receive a substantive service within four months, we would try to get to a position where he or she would see a solicitor within six weeks to receive advice. It means that at least we are identifying the difficult cases and giving them attention early in the process in order that access to justice is real and meaningful.