Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

322. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the total spent on free legal aid in 2012; the total number of persons to whom free legal aid was provided; the average fee-cost of the free legal aid; the ten largest individual amounts paid for individual cases under free legal aid in 2012; the number of persons who had previously received free legal aid on one other, two other, three other, four other and more than four other occasions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20269/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy may be aware 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

Total expenditure on Criminal Legal Aid for 2012 came to €50.5 million, a reduction of 10% over 2011 (€56.1million). This reduction in the annual expenditure is the largest ever recorded and represents a fall of approximately €10 million, or 16%, over the peak recorded in 2009.

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 their means are insufficient to enable them to pay for legal aid themselves. The 1962 Act specifies that 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. Criminal prosecutions originate in the District Court and if so satisfied, the Judge will grant a criminal legal aid certificate. I can inform the Deputy that the District Courts granted 49,639 certificates in 2012. However, as more than one certificate may be granted to any one person, it is not possible to provide a figure for the total number of persons provided with criminal legal aid.

I wish to advise the Deputy that in relation to the request for the ten largest amounts paid for individual cases, my Department's computer records are not kept in such a manner as to allow for this information to be extracted without requiring a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort. This could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources. With regard to information sought in relation to the average cost of legal aid, given that expenditure in 2012 was €50.5 million and the number of certificates granted was 49,639, the approximate average cost was €1,017.

An applicant's previous convictions are not a criterion for the granting of criminal legal aid under the Act and consequently the information sought by the Deputy in respect of the number of persons who received criminal legal aid on more than one occasion is not available. Records are not kept in a manner which would allow for the extraction of information showing the number of times a person has been granted criminal legal aid.

Civil Legal Aid

In respect of civil legal aid, this is provided by the Legal Aid Board, an independent State agency. Persons availing of civil legal aid pay a contribution towards the service, with some exceptions, so it is not a free service per se. Exchequer funding is provided by way of a grant-in-aid to the Board. In 2012, this grant amounted to €32.922 million and this increased to €33.759 million last year. The service is primarily provided through the Board's law centre network and by its own solicitors, although private practitioners on the Board's panels are engaged to provide a complementary service by the Board, mainly in District Court family law matters. Overall in 2012, civil legal aid was provided in some 17,652 cases, of which 9,962 involved court representation. For civil legal aid, information on the most expensive cases is not readily available due to the nature of the Board's operating model. Whilst it is not unusual for an applicant to access civil legal aid services more than once, particularly in family law matters, applicants do not tend to be in receipt of civil legal aid repeatedly. It should be noted that each and every application for civil legal aid is subject to a means test and a merits test, in line with the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, and the associated Regulations. Figures in respect of persons in receipt of civil legal aid more than once in a year are not available.

Further details can be found in the Board's 2012 Annual Report, available at www.legalaidboard.ie.