Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the waiting times for civil legal aid services from 2007-2012 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24631/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Legal Aid Board is a statutory, independent body in accordance with the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995. The issue raised by the Deputy is a matter for the Board. However, in order to be helpful to the Deputy I have had enquiries made with the Board. I wish to inform the Deputy that I am advised that the following table sets out details of waiting times for non-prioritised matters at the Legal Aid Board's law centres:

Law Centre Waiting Times (in months)

(Waiting times shown are as at 31 December for each year, except for 2012 in which case the waiting times provided are as at 30 April)

I acknowledge that waiting times have increased since the downturn in the economy and that there has been a significant increase in demand for the Board's services. However, the Board's grant-in-aid for general civil matters, which accounts for the vast majority of its funding, has effectively been maintained for 2012 at its 2011 level. I have also now incorporated the grant for asylum services into the grant-in-aid which should give the Board greater flexibility in using its resources.

I can also inform the Deputy that there are a number of other measures, taken or being taken, which I believe will have a positive impact on persons seeking services from the Board:

· The Board has outsourced to private solicitors significantly more work in recent years than it did a number of years ago. There is of course a budgetary constraint on what can be referred and it is not possible to accommodate all of the additional demand through private referral;

· As of 1 November 2011, the Board assumed responsibility for the Family Mediation Service (following the enactment of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011). The Board is currently reviewing the operation of the State funded mediation service with a view to achieving synergies with its legal services and better options in terms of resolving family disputes;

· The arrangements on foot of which barristers are retained have been in place since 1998 and are currently under review. There will be a level of restructuring of the current arrangements;

· The Board is working with individual law centres with a view to trying to deliver greater efficiencies in a number of its centres. It is assisted in this regard by the preparation of a Value for Money Review Report prepared by my Department and the Department of Finance (now the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform); and

· The Board has commenced piloting a 'triage' service. The objective of the pilot is to ensure that every applicant for services gets to see a solicitor for the purpose of getting early legal advice within a period of one month. It is recognised that those seeking further services will experience a wait, however it is anticipated that an early consultation will benefit the client in terms of signposting actions the client can take themselves and signposting other support service. The pilot has commenced in five of the Board's law centres – Sligo, Nenagh, Cavan, Wicklow and Athlone. It is anticipated that the pilot will commence in the remaining centres shortly.