Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the legal firms that were the ten highest earners for free legal aid services for each year in the ten year period 2002 to 2011; and the amount each firm was paid for each year. [23299/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that the provision of legal aid falls within two separate categories, i.e criminal legal aid and civil legal aid. Details in respect of each category are as follows:

Criminal Legal Aid

The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 provides that free legal aid may be granted, in certain circumstances, for the defence of persons of insufficient means in criminal proceedings. Under the Act, the grant of legal aid entitles the applicant to the services of a solicitor and , in certain circumstances, up to two counsel, in the preparation and conduct of their defence or appeal. The assignment of lawyers or the granting of aid are matters for the Court and, as such, are handled by the judiciary.

While records and information on expenditure under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme provide details of fees paid to individual solicitors, they do not provide separate details of the names of their particular firms, if any. The ten highest earning solicitors under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme for the seven year period 2005 to 2011 (figures for earlier years are not readily available and the retrieval of relevant records would require a disproportionate use of resources) and the amount each solicitor was paid are as follows:

2011 €

Frank Buttimer 889,659

Yvonne Bambury 789,364

Michael Hanahoe 776,168

Cahir O'Higgins 762,510

John Feaheny 710,316

John Quinn 580,282

Edmund Burke 507,993

Aine Flynn 475,368

Kevin Tunney 462,926

Michael Staines 452,347

2010 €

Yvonne Bambury 920,529

Frank Buttimer 866,005

Michael Hanahoe 813,469

Cahir O'Higgins 796,778

Michael Staines 784,920

John Feaheny 752,727

John Quinn 714,034

Aine Flynn 482,329

Michael Hannon 476,455

Michael Kelleher 474,390

2009 €

Michael J. Staines 1,340,102

John Quinn 1,136,483

Yvonne Bambury 1,130,352

Cahir O'Higgins 1,127,727

Michael Hanahoe 1,053,518

Frank Buttimer 982,062

John Feaheny 858,151

Kevin Tunney 724,519

Michael Kelleher 606,972

Michael Hannon 572,633

2008 €

Michael J Staines 1,354,077

John Quinn 1,187,516

Yvonne Bambury 1,109,906

Frank Buttimer 945,760

Michael Hanahoe 925,496

John Feaheny 866,594

Cahir O'Higgins 669,084

Michael Hannon 642,831

Aine Flynn 620,922

Terence Hanahoe 562,355

2007 €

Michael J Staines 1,484,090

John Quinn 1,121,176

Yvonne Bambury 1,007,202

Michael Hanahoe 905,955

John Feaheny 717,928

Frank Buttimer 694,581

Aine Flynn 678,677

Michael Hannon 539,736

Terence Hanahoe 498,972

Michael Kelleher 476,945

2006 €

Michael J Staines 1,543,839

John Quinn 1,211,921

Michael Hanahoe 975,367

Aine Flynn 848,710

Yvonne Bambury 772,139

John Feaheny 736,314

Garrett Sheehan 592,621

Frank Buttimer 580,644

Michael Hannon 484,264

Diarmuid Kelleher 437,543 2005 €

Michael J Staines 1,373,558

Michael Hanahoe 841,943

John Quinn 830,007

Aine Flynn 815,680

Frank Buttimer 582,075

John Feaheny 547,585

Michael Hannon 547,407

Yvonne Bambury 545,789

Garrett Sheehan 542,807

Ted McCarthy 525,437

Civil Legal Aid

The Legal Aid Board (LAB) is the statutory body which provides legal aid and advice in civil law matters. All Board services are governed by the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations.

Again, the Deputy might wish to note that the relevant information in respect of civil legal aid is only readily available for the years 2007 to 2011 inclusive and that retrieval of earlier records would require a disproportionate use of resources. In the case of civil legal aid, records and information on expenditure under the Civil Legal Aid Scheme provide details of fees paid to both individual solicitors and to firms and in the case of the former details of their particular firms, if any, are not on record. The details are as follows:

2011 €

Doyle Fox and Associates 60,927

Kevin Tunney and Company 55,222

Carmody Moran 54,844

Eugene G. Smartt & Co 52,979

Sandra McAleer 52,943

Doyle Solicitors 47,825

Burns Nowlan Solrs 42,848

Sean Mulvihill & Co Solrs 36,779

James Watters & Co. 35,530

John A. Sinnott & Co 34,318

2010 €

Eugene G. Smartt & Co 95,981

Eamonn Bennett 63,141

James Watters & Co 62,000

Maura Hurley 52,084

Carmody Moran 47,774

Peter Doyle Solrs 47,766

Burns Nowlan Solrs 47,209

Margaret Horan & Co 45,884

Doyle Fox & Associates 44,442

Huggard Brennan & Murphy

Solrs 42,654

2009 €

James Watters & Co 123,606

Eugene G. Smartt & Co 87,079

Carroll, Kelly, O'Connor Solrs 73,259

Peter Doyle Solrs 64,594

Doyle Fox & Associates 63,338

Kevin Tunney & Co 59,100

Eamonn Bennett 49,178

John A. Sinnott & Co 41,556

S.T. Glazier & Co 41,028

Maura Hurley 40,765

2008 €

James Watters & Co 80,943

Eugene G. Smartt & Co 73,003

Maura Hurley 61,965

Margaret Horan & Co 59,345

Huggard, Brennan & Murphy

Solrs 50,656

John A. Sinnott & Co 45,963

Kevin Tunney & Co 31,614

Lynch & Partners 31,231

S.T. Glazier & Co 31,052

2007 €

James Watters & Co 82,266

Huggard, Brennan & Murphy

Solrs 64,768

Augustus Cullen Law 55,083

Eamonn Bennett 54,668

Margaret Horan & Co 53,258

Maura Hurley 52,650

Eugene G. Smartt & Co 48,763

Carol A. Hickey Solr 44,218

D. M. Burke & Co 31,881

Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 142: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the criteria to qualify for free legal aid; if he will provide in tabular form the total number of applications for the 10 years 2002 to 2011, on a county basis; the number of persons that qualified for free legal aid each year; the number refused each year; and the cost per year. [23300/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that the provision of legal aid falls within two categories, i.e criminal legal aid and civil legal aid. The following is the position in respect of each category:

Criminal Legal Aid

Under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, the Courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of legal aid. An applicant for legal aid must establish to the satisfaction of the Court that his/her means are insufficient to enable him/her to pay for legal representation him/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.

I am informed that the number of applications and details of cases in which legal aid is refused is not readily available and the necessary search of records would require a disproportionate use of resources. The expenditure for each of the past 10 years is set out in the table below along with the number of legal aid certificates granted by the District Court.

Civil Legal Aid

The Legal Aid Board (LAB) is the independent statutory body which provides legal aid in civil cases. I should however point out that civil legal aid is not free and clients of the Board are required to pay a contribution to avail of legal services and may be liable to pay the Board's costs in certain cases. The criteria for determining if a person qualifies for civil legal aid are set out in the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995, and accompanying Regulations. The two main criteria are the financial eligibility test and the merits test. In order to be financially eligible for legal services a person's disposable income cannot be over €18,000 and disposable capital cannot be over €320,000. The reckonable allowances to calculate disposable income and disposable capital are set out in the Regulations. The qualifying allowances are set out in detail on the Board's website, www.legalaidboard.ie.

In addition, the Act also specifies certain criteria to be met in respect of the merits and nature of the case. In brief, a person can only receive legal aid for a case that (s)he would be likely to pay for if (s)he had the means; the person must have grounds to institute/defend or be a party to the case; the person must have reasonable prospects of success in the case and the granting of legal aid must be reasonable in all of the circumstances of the case. In addition, certain types of cases are excluded under the Act. These merits criteria are set out in detail in Sections 24-28 of the Act, as amended.

Whilst I have made enquiries with the Board in respect of the statistical information requested, I am informed that it is not possible for the Board to provide all of the information sought in the format requested. Information which can be made available to the Deputy without placing an undue administrative burden on the Board is set out below. This includes the overall number of applications, the number of legal aid and advice cases handled in each year, the number of refusals and the cost to the Exchequer of providing the service. Applications on a county basis for 2010 and 2011 are also set out. The Deputy should note that this information does not include asylum cases.

In addition, I should point out to the Deputy that the Board's Annual Reports and Accounts are laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas each year and these reports contain a significant amount of information in respect of the services provided by the Board.

Civil Legal Aid 2002-2011

Note: Legal aid and advice cases do not constitute new cases in each year, but the total number of cases dealt with. Refusals do not include those deemed financially ineligible.

Civil Legal Aid Applications by County 2010/11 (non-asylum)