Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide a breakdown in tabular form of the waiting lists for persons seeking civil legal aid in each county on 1 January 2013; the number of these persons seeking civil legal aid for family law matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1406/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that I have no function or responsibility in relation to the matter raised. Under the terms of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, as passed by the Oireachtas, the Legal Aid Board is independent in the operation of its functions and decisions on individual cases are a matter for the Board.

However, to be of assistance I have contacted the Legal Aid Board for the information requested by the Deputy, which is set out in tabular form.

Details re waiting times and numbers waiting on the 1st January 2013 (in months)

* The waiting time in the Medical Negligence Unit was 6 months as of the 1st January 2013. Unlike at the general law centres there is a significant amount of preparatory work done while a person is waiting for an appointment. The real driver here is the statute of limitations - any court proceedings must be initiated within two years and because of the almost invariable complexity attaching to medical negligence there is a large amount of work to be done before it can be established if there is merit in a case or not. Thus while some persons may wait six months to see a solicitor, others will be seen more quickly if the expiry of the statute of limitations is looming.

The table gives a breakdown of the waiting times for persons seeking legal services in each of the Board’s law centres on the 1st January 2013. The Board does not, at the moment, record as a statistic the number of applications that relate to family law matters and the number that relate to other matters. In or about 76% of cases dealt with are in the area of family law and it can be assumed that the number of applications is similar as a percentage. The Board continues to prioritise certain categories of cases and these cases will receive an immediate or near immediate service. The main categories of case types that are prioritised are public law child care cases, child abduction cases and domestic violence cases.

By way of explanation of the table, the Board has been piloting a ‘triage’ approach to service delivery and this approach is operative in a number of law centres. The pilot is in response to lengthening waiting times. The aim of the ‘triage’ approach is that every applicant gets to see a solicitor within a period of one month for the purpose of getting legal advice (consultations are broadly limited to 45 minutes). If the applicant requires further services they remain on the ‘waiting list’. Those centres in which the pilot was operative in 2012 show a waiting time for a ‘triage’ appointment and a waiting time for a second consultation. The second consultation waiting time is calculated from the date of application and not from the date of the triage appointment. In law centres where the triage is not in operation, the general waiting time is shown in months from the date of application. There is or has been a ‘backlog’ of applicants to be seen for triage purposes hence it is taking time to reduce the waiting time for such an appointment to one month.

The Board is taking other steps in an effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery including:·introducing a new case management system in its law centres;integrating its mediation and legal services; integrating its Refugee Legal Service into the general law centre service delivery model; and maintaining a high level of usage of private solicitors for family law cases in the District Court.

The reality is however that the Board must live within its budget and it is subject to the public service recruitment moratorium (there is a very limited derogation). Demand for the Board’s services has increased significantly since the down-turn in the economy. There was a 10% drop in demand at the general law centres in 2012 compared to 2011 however demand in 2011 was 93% greater than it was in 2006.

The capacity to provide a meaningful service is a priority for the Board and the Board will in 2013 be examining other options in an effort to enable legal services to be provided promptly to those most in need of them.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the waiting times for civil legal aid services from 2007 to 2012 in each county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1407/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that I have no function or responsibility in relation to the matter raised. Under the terms of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, as passed by the Oireachtas, the Legal Aid Board is independent in the operation of its functions and decisions on individual cases are a matter for the Board. However, to be of assistance I have contacted the Legal Aid Board for the information requested by the Deputy.

I am informed that the maximum waiting times for civil legal aid services, as provided by the Legal Aid Board, at the end of the year for each of the years 2007 to 2012 are as set out in the table. The increase in waiting times evident in the table has been brought about primarily by the huge increase in demand for the Board’s services since the economic downturn. As the provision of civil legal aid services are means tested, a much greater number of persons are now financially eligible than had been the case in 2007.

Law Centre Waiting Times (in months) at the end of Each Year (2007-2012)