Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans, if any, for the reform of the free legal aid scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11672/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The current legislation governing the criminal legal aid scheme is the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 and a series of regulations made thereunder. The Act provides that an applicant for criminal legal aid must establish to the satisfaction of the court that his or her means are insufficient to enable him or her to pay for legal representation him or herself. 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. The constitutional right to legal aid was established in 1976 in the Healy v. Donoghue case. In addition, Article 6(3)(c) of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that every person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to defend him or herself in person or through legal assistance of his or her own choosing or, if he or she has insufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require.

A new criminal legal aid Bill is planned to update and strengthen the system of granting legal aid including transferring responsibility for the administration of the scheme to the Legal Aid Board. Consideration is being given to including in the Bill provisions to, inter alia, regulate better the taking of statements of means, increase the sanction for false declarations, allow the board to verify the means of applicants and to prosecute cases of abuse. Provision to give power to the Legal Aid Board to recover the costs of criminal legal aid or to make application to a court to revoke a criminal legal aid certificate are also under consideration. These provisions must have regard to a person's rights to the presumption of innocence, to a fair trial and to be given legal aid, where appropriate. I hope it will be possible to publish the Bill during the course of this year.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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As we are no longer dealing with Priority Questions, I remind Deputies that there is a one minute limit in respect of supplementary questions and replies to same.

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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We would all agree with what the Minister has just said in terms of people being entitled to the presumption of innocence and to a fair trial. That is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system. However, an issue which arises time and again and which grates with the public, as the Minister is well aware, is that of serial re-offenders who are availing of the free legal aid system. The point is regularly made that these people make no contribution whatsoever. Perhaps that is a failure of the means test within the system. It has been pointed out by the public, quite rightly, that the local property tax can be collected directly by the Revenue Commissioners. Revenue can access people's employers or their bank accounts to collect the property tax but, at the same time, the recovery of money for the subscription towards free legal aid does not seem to be possible. This issue must be addressed because the wider public is hugely concerned about this.

When does the Minister hope to introduce the proposed legislation? Will the heads of a Bill be published before the Committee Stage debate?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I will allow Deputy O'Donovan to ask a quick supplementary question before the Minister replies.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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According to the Minister 's reply to a question I tabled last September on criminal legal aid in 2011, 148 practitioners were paid a minimum of €100,000 each, out of a total of 1,565 practitioners, which would equate to about 26% of the total budget of €56 million. This is based on the assumption that they each only received €100,000 although I presume some would have received more than that sum. In the context of the promised legislation, will the Minister look at the costs associated with the free legal aid scheme? A budget of €56.1 million is quite considerable and 148 practitioners received €14.8 million between them, which is a lot of money in these times.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Just to take the last question first, as the Deputy may recall, we reduced the fees payable under the criminal legal aid scheme on two occasions since we have been in office. The effect of that was that considerable savings were made last year. The outturn for 2012, which is to be finally confirmed, was that the cost of the legal aid scheme fell to €50 million, representing a saving of some €6 million over the preceding year. I would stress that this is a tentative figure. I will have the definitive figure very shortly and will forward it to the Deputy then.

The reality is that under Irish Statute, our Constitution and the European Convention, people have a right to legal aid and a right to be represented in circumstances where they cannot afford to pay their own legal fees. It is inevitable that there are number of law firms and counsel who would earn substantial fees under the scheme because they are specialists in criminal law, are part of the panel system and because of the volume of people they represent.