Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this budget. Having listened to colleagues speaking, I am beginning to wonder whether they live in the same country as I do. Some of the statements from Senators on the other side of this House in the context of this debate are not just wrong but also extraordinary and misleading. That is not to say the budget is perfect – it is not – but there is an awful lot in it for every sector of society, which is to be welcomed.

I want to pay particular attention to the increase in the capital acquisitions tax threshold. That is really important. The Minister of State will agree with me that people, particularly those in our area, were unfairly targeted by the tax. It meant some had to sell their family homes rather than be allowed to continue to live in them. This was regrettable. We still have a distance to go to get back to where the tax was before the crash, but I welcome the increase in the threshold to €400,000. That is fair. This was not particularly expensive in the context of how much money it would cost the Government, but its individual impact is enormous. I welcome the changes.

I want to refer to the justice measures in the budget, particularly in the context of Vote 24 and the other Votes in this area. I am extraordinarily disappointed by the decision not to restore criminal legal aid fees. We have had this debate round and round. I understood there was acceptance at Government level that there is value to the criminal legal aid system. It is demonstrably the case, and any international comparison shows the taxpayer gets excellent value from the criminal legal aid fees paid to solicitors and barristers in this country. They have been cut and cut. Looking at the figures going back to September 2008, we see they are, de facto, down 28.5%. There was a restoration of 10% last January, and 8% will be restored this January. However, there is still a major deficit affecting those working in this area. The signal it sends to those working in our criminal courts is that they are not valued by the State or system, and that it is okay not to restore their pay despite the fact that their sector is the only one within the public sector that has not had a restoration. In September 2008, a 2.5% increase was not given, in March 2009 an 8% decrease was made, and in April 2010 another 8% decrease was made. That was the same for the rest of the public service but, in October 2011, a further 10% was taken away from criminal legal aid – unjustifiably, in my opinion. Only two of the cuts have been restored. What am I to say to people practising in this area who now tell me they cannot survive in it and need to work in another area of law?What am I to say to the victims whose trials are delayed because there are no lawyers available to run their trials? How can I justify that? It does not make sense. The reality is that I speak to lawyers at all levels all over this country who are incredibly frustrated. I am concerned that we are going to see a further withdrawal of services as we saw lawyers do reluctantly in the past year. Let us hope that does not happen. I would love to hear from the Minister of State some indication that the Government values the work that our criminal prosecution and defence lawyers do in criminal courts throughout this country.