Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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142. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will support a matter (details supplied) regarding funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41029/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department is responsible for providing funding to the Legal Aid Board. In this regard, €32.471m in funding was provided in 2015.

The Board operates 30 full-time and 12 part-time law centres across twenty six counties. In addition, the Board took on responsibility for the Family Mediation Service in November 2011, which had been under the auspices of the Family Support Agency up to that point. A key reason for this transfer was to improve the synergies between the State funded 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). Improving the synergies will be for the benefit of the customer and will help move away from a ‘litigation first’ approach that may on occasion be too common.

The Dolphin House initiative, set up in 2011, operating from the District Court in Dolphin House and involving a co-location of the Courts with a family mediation service and a law centre, has proven successful and was put on a permanent footing in 2014. Similar initiatives are now operating from Cork, Naas, Limerick, Clonmel and Nenagh. Integration of the Family Mediation Service into the Legal Aid Board has also meant an increase in the referrals from Law Centres to mediation in appropriate cases.

My Department also provided €98,000 in funding to the Free Legal Advice Centres Ltd (FLAC) in 2015. FLAC currently provides legal information and advice through the 21 centres it administers directly as well as an additional 49 centres run through .

I recognise the value of the work that Community Law and Mediation are undertaking in the face of obvious financial pressures, and hope that this work will continue into the future.

In the context of the financial resources available to my Department and the various funding requirements across all areas of the Department, I am committed to allocating any additional resources that may become available towards the continuing funding of these bodies.

I recognise the value of the work that Community Law and Mediation are undertaking in the face of obvious financial pressures, and hope that this work will continue into the future.