Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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589. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps she will take to ensure that free legal aid is available in a timely way to distressed borrowers who need independent legal advice to deal with family home re-possession proceedings and are granted legal aid board assistance but are put on waiting lists of up to 18 months, taking into account that in many cases judges and county registrars are not willing to adjourn legal proceedings for legal aid solicitors to become available, thus leaving vulnerable persons to fight such cases without professional representation against financial institutions with full legal representation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32510/14]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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590. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the average waiting times persons are experiencing in receiving free legal aid broken down by category such as family law, repossessions and so on; the actions she will take to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32511/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 590 together.

I wish to inform the Deputy that demand for legal services from the Legal Aid Board (the Board) has increased significantly since the down-turn in the economy and this has led to an increase in numbers waiting and waiting times. Demand in 2013 was at the same level as it was in 2012 and while there was a 10% drop in demand at the general law centres in 2012 compared to 2011, nevertheless the demand for general legal services (excluding asylum) in 2011 was 93% greater than it was in 2006. In recognition of this, the Board has not been subject to the level of cuts that other public service bodies have had to experience and my predecessor was able to maintain the Board’s allowance at the same level for 2014 as it was in the previous three years. Nevertheless it is a challenging environment that has resulted in recent years in growing waiting times for those seeking legal services for most matters. The Board prioritises certain categories of case, most notably cases involving children at risk of going into State (Child and Family Agency) care and cases involving international child abduction. In 2013 approximately 17% of the Board’s first appointments with clients involved cases that had been prioritised. It is difficult for the Board to add additional categories of cases for prioritisation without such an approach impacting on the meaningful ability to prioritise the case types that I have just mentioned.

In September 2013 my predecessor signed into law by way of Regulations, a package of proposals from the Board for the revision of the financial eligibility and contributions provisions governing the granting of civil legal aid including a reduction in the capital eligibility threshold for legal services and increases in the contributions payable by most persons seeking legal services. These provisions should have some impact, on the resources available to the Board. I can inform the Deputy that, in response to the changed environment the Board has taken steps to try and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of its legal services. Those steps include the following:

- A ‘triage’ approach to service delivery is being piloted, the aim of which is that every applicant gets to see a solicitor within a period of one month for the purpose of getting legal advice. If the applicant requires further services they remain on the ‘waiting list’;

- In August 2012 the Board introduced a new case management system in its law centres which will deliver efficiencies in terms of administration as well as to the delivery of legal services. It will take time for the full benefits of this system to materialise;

- In November 2011 responsibility for the management and administration of the State funded Family Mediation Service was transferred to the Board. A key reason for this transfer was to improve the synergies between the family mediation services and the State funded civil legal aid services (most of the demand for legal services is in the area of family law);

- The Board has maintained a high level of usage of private solicitors for family law cases in the District Court;

- The Board continues to engage with other key players in the justice / legal area such as the Courts Service and the Child and Family Agency, with a view to trying to ensure that State funded resources that impact on its area of business are used to best effect.

Details concerning waiting times and case types, provided by the Legal Aid Board, are set out in the attached appendices. Waiting times for legal services as of the 1 July 2014 are set out on a law centre by law centre basis in Appendix I. Most of the Legal Aid Board’s law centres operate a ‘triage’ approach which involves giving an applicant a short consultation (45 minutes) for legal advice. Those persons remain on the Board’s waiting list if they require further legal services. It is not practical to give ‘averages’ as the waiting times fluctuate at each law centre depending on a variety of issues including current court commitments, staff numbers and staff availability. In terms of the case types that are awaiting a service, attached at Appendix II is a breakdown of the case types in respect of persons who have yet to see a solicitor while the breakdown at Appendix III relates to case types in respect of persons who have had a ‘triage’ appointment with a solicitor but are awaiting further services.

Appendix I

Waiting times – 1 July 2014

Waiting times are given in weeks