Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 379: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will consider expanding the legal aid scheme to enable the Legal Aid Board to provide legal advice in defamation claims; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24638/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 provides that certain "designated matters" are excluded from the scope of civil legal aid. Defamation is one of these matters and thus legal advice or legal aid is not generally available on foot of the legal aid scheme. There are some very limited exceptions to this. On foot of the EU Directive on cross border legal aid the Legal Aid Board is required to take into account the nature of the case where the applicant is claiming damages to his or her reputation. The Board may therefore grant applications for legal aid in relation to defamation, where the applicant is domiciled or habitually resident in another Member State. The Board has however received little or no such applications in recent years.

The Board has previously been asked for its views in relation to the inclusion of defamation within the scope of civil legal aid. It took no particular view. In its comments on the Civil Legal Aid Bill 1995 (now the Act), the Board did not express an opinion on the matter. It has not been formally considered by the Board since that time.

The matter was the subject of discussions with my Department in 2006 following the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Steel & Morris v United Kingdom ("McLibel" case), when the Board suggested that the continued exclusion of defamation might leave the State open to challenge for not providing for the possibility of the provision of legal aid in such cases.

While there is only basic research to hand on the availability of legal aid for defamation cases in other jurisdictions it would appear that it is not available, or is available only in very limited circumstances in England / Wales, Scotland, New South Wales and South Australia. The only country where it appears that it is more readily available for defamation cases is New Zealand.

The Deputy will be aware that the Board's services are under considerable pressure at the moment due to increased demand for its services which has resulted in longer waiting times for a first appointment with a solicitor for many applicants. Bringing another area of law within the scope of civil legal aid is likely add to those pressures.