Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Expenditure on the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme for 2014 (January - August) is €33.3 million. Under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of legal aid. The nature of the Scheme is that it is demand-led, driven by the incidence of crime, detection rates and prosecutions of cases through the courts systems. This makes it difficult to anticipate and control costs. Under the Act 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.

The Deputy will appreciate that an accused person who faces serious charges is entitled to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence and if they cannot afford to pay for legal representation there is a right to legal aid. Under the Constitution, the State is obliged to provide an accused person with the means to obtain appropriate legal representation. Moreover, the European Convention on Human Rights provides that every person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to defend themselves in person or through legal assistance of their own choosing or, if they have insufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require.

A new Criminal Legal Aid Bill is being drafted to update and strengthen the system of granting legal aid including the transferring of responsibility for the administration of the Scheme to the Legal Aid Board. Consideration is being given to including in the Bill provisions to, inter alia, regulate better the taking of statements of means, increase the sanction for false declarations, allow the Board to verify the means of applicants and to prosecute in cases of abuse. Provisions to give power to the Legal Aid Board to recover the costs of criminal legal aid or to make application to a court to revoke a criminal legal aid certificate are also under consideration. These provisions will have regard for a person's right to the presumption of innocence, to a fair trial and to be given legal aid where appropriate.

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.

There is no recoupment of money from defendants under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme.