Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 644: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the various legal panels for solicitors and barristers under the control of his Department or agencies under it remit; the process for getting on the various panels; if done annually or occasionally. [31033/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is set out below.

The Appeal Tribunal (under the Prisons Act 2007)

Section 15 of the Prisons Act, 2007 provides prisoners with a right of appeal in relation to a sanction involving a loss of remission imposed by a governor arising from a breach of prison discipline. Appeals are heard by an Appeal Tribunal. The Tribunal is paid on a case by case basis. Appointment is made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform subject to terms conditions and remuneration as he/she may determine with the consent of the Minister for Finance. The term of the Tribunal is at the discretion of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Appointments were made following advertisements placed in the papers by the Irish Prison Service. Members must be barristers or solicitors of at least seven years standing.

The Mental Health Review Board (under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006)

This statutory independent body reviews the detention of patients at "designated centres" (of which the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) is currently the only one) who have been referred there arising from a decision by the Courts that they are unfit to stand trial or found to be not guilty of an offence by reason of insanity.

The Review Board has established and maintains a panel of solicitors and law firms who satisfy the necessary criteria to provide legal services in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. To be considered for placement on the panel, a solicitor or law firm must submit a completed application form for evaluation. The principal conditions an applicant must satisfy are the following: 1. hold a current practising certificate from the Law Society of Ireland; 2. be a practising solicitor who has had not less than three years' experience as a practising solicitor ending immediately before application; 3. have professional indemnity insurance to cover an individual claim of up to €2.2million; and 4. comply with Tax Clearance procedures.

Further information concerning the criteria for applying to join the legal representatives panel of the Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board is outlined on the website of Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board - www.mhclrb.ie - Legal Aid Scheme.

There are currently twenty-nine solicitors appointed to the legal representatives panel. The Review Board monitors the position on an ongoing basis. The Panel will be reviewed formally by the Review Board every three years or as considered necessary by the Review Board.

Garda Discipline Panel

Regulations 25 and 34 of the Garda Síochána (Discipline) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 214 of 2007) provide for the appointment by the Garda Commissioner of Presiding Officers of boards of inquiry and Chairpersons of Appeal Boards respectively. Appointees must be drawn from a panel of judges of the District Court, or practising barristers or solicitors of not less than ten years' standing nominated by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. In June 2007 the then Minister made the first nominations to the panel. After consultation with the President of the District Court, 10 judges were nominated to the panel. All practising barristers and solicitors of ten years standing were invited via the Bar Council and the Incorporated Law Society to apply for nomination. Following confirmation of their status by the Bar Council or Law Society respectively, the Minister nominated 250 lawyers to the panel. In June 2008 applications for nomination were sought in the same way, and I made further nominations in November 2008. There are now 351 persons on the panel, including 10 judges. Further nominations to the panel will be made as the need arises.

Private Security Authority

The Private Security Authority awarded a contract to Holmes O'Malley Sexton, Solicitors, Limerick following a tendering process in December 2008. The term of the contract is for a period of three years. They provide legal advice and assistance to the Board and CEO in the exercise of their statutory functions and responsibilities.

The Legal Aid Board

To assist it in fulfilling its functions under the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995, the Legal Aid Board maintains two panels of solicitors under its Private Practitioner Scheme and also a panel of barristers under the terms of an agreement with the Bar Council.

Under its Private Practitioner Scheme, the Board operates two separate panels to deal with Circuit Court and District Court cases. The existing Circuit Court Panel is in operation for three years after commencing on 1 October, 2006. The term of this panel has been extended to run to the end of this year and, pending its finalisation, new solicitors are not being considered for inclusion on the current panel. Solicitors interested in being included on a future panel should apply in writing to the Board and interviews will be conducted with the applicants with those found to be suitable being added to the panel as appropriate.

The existing District Court Panel is in operation for three years after commencing on 1 May, 2008. A solicitor can now apply in writing to be added to this panel. Their application will be considered and subject to the decision of the Board, will be added to the panel if they fulfil the Board's standard requirements, including the requirement that they hold a practising certificate, appropriate indemnity insurance and possess a current tax clearance certificate.

The Legal Aid Board maintains a panel of barristers under the terms of the Bar Council Agreement with this panel in continuous operation facilitating a barrister to apply at any time to be considered for inclusion. An interested barrister should apply in the first instance by submitting an application to the Bar Council. Subject to consideration and the barrister satisfying the Board's requirements, the Bar Council notify the Legal Aid Board and the barrister will be added to the panel as appropriate.

Any solicitors or barristers interested in being included in any of the above panels may enquire further on the matter through the Board's Legal Services Section based in its Headquarters in Cahirciveen.

Criminal Legal Aid

Solicitors and barristers who wish to operate under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme must be on a criminal legal aid panel as provided for in the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962 and Regulations, 1965 to 2003. The barristers' panel is maintained by my officials and each County Registrar maintains a solicitors' panel for his/her county.

Each panel lasts for one year from 1 December in any year to 30 November the following year. The procedure for barristers is that they must inform the Bar Council that they are willing to accept instruction in cases where the defendant has been granted a certificate for free legal aid by the courts. The Bar Council then informs my officials who request the Tax Clearance Certificate from the counsel before adding his/her name to the panel. Similar requirements apply to solicitors, where solicitors who hold Fitness to Practice Certificates from the Law Society apply to County Registrars to have their name included on the Solicitors' Panel for the relevant County. They must also provide a tax clearance certificate.

Refugee Legal Service

The Refugee Legal Service maintains a panel of solicitors and a panel of barristers in private practice to submit appeals, in certain cases, on behalf of legally aided asylum applicants to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and to represent them before the Tribunal.

Applications to the solicitors' panel are made to the Legal Services Unit of the Refugee Legal Service, and applications to the barristers' panel are made through the Bar Council to the Legal Services Unit. The Board's website includes information for interested persons on who to contact. In both cases, applications are considered as they are received and are assessed in relation to suitable training and experience.

Data Protection Commissioner

A competition is currently being conducted with a view to establishing a panel of at least three up to a maximum of five service providers with proven capacity to provide the full scope of legal services required by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. Full details concerning this competition can found in the notice that was published on www.etenders.gov.ie on 2 September, 2009.

The Equality Tribunal

The Equality Tribunal has an in-house Solicitor who provides the Director with specialist legal advices. Barristers are engaged on an occasional, specialist and case-by-case basis. There is no formal panel in place for such engagements as the work is highly specialised. Practitioners are briefed by the Legal Advisor on the basis of their specialist knowledge and availability.

The Irish Human Rights Commission

The Irish Human Rights Commission has no legal panel for solicitors. It has a legal panel for barristers which was established in 2004 at which time it placed notices in the Law Library asking counsel with human rights expertise to forward CVs to the Commission and address certain criteria. A panel was then established which has been updated over time. The process for getting onto this panel involves a barrister sending a CV to the Commission and setting out why they wish to be placed on the Commission's panel.

Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner

A Presenting Panel of legally qualified persons was established by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner in early 2009 to represent the Commissioner at appeals hearings before the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. A competition was conducted in 2008 to select suitable candidates for placement on the Panel. The competition was advertised in national daily newspapers in October 2008. In addition, details of the competition were supplied to the Bar Council and Law Society of Ireland. Furthermore, detailed information and the relevant application form were uploaded to the website of the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (www.orac.ie) on 2 October, 2008. Following a short-listing process and interviews the Panel was established. It is not proposed at the present time to form another Presenting Panel as the work of the present Panel is not completed.