Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the cost of provision of criminal free legal aid and civil free legal aid in County Limerick in each of the years 2009 to 2016 inclusive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17143/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The position in relation to payments under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Criminal Legal Aid Act 1962, as amended, is set out as follows.

Criminal Legal Aid

The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, which is the primary legislation covering the operation of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, provides that free legal aid may be granted, in certain circumstances, for the defence of persons of insufficient means in criminal proceedings.

The cost of criminal legal aid provided in respect of cases which were before the Courts in County Limerick in each of the years 2009 to 2016 is as follows:

Under the 1962 Act, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of 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, if they have insufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require.

Civil Legal Aid

The Legal Aid Board, established under the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995 provides civil legal aid and advice to persons of limited means, who cannot afford to pay a solicitor privately. The Legal Aid Board operates 30 full time law centres and a number of part time law centres in Ireland. The Board also provides mediation services in 17 offices around the country to help separating couples to negotiate their own agreement.

It is not possible to extract and isolate the total cost of civil legal aid in any one office/county in a given year as it would be necessary to devise a basis on which to attribute, to each county, all expenditure incurred by the Board centrally. Complexities may also arise at local level with regard to the delivery of civil legal aid; for example a client living in County Limerick may choose to apply to Ennis Law Centre. Also, in a case where two parties to a dispute seek the services of the Board at one law centre, one party will be required to engage with a different law centre, which may be in a neighbouring county.

The majority of the Board's income consists of a grant received from the Department of Justice and Equality. Funding provided by the Government from the year 2009 to 2016 totals almost €264 million, the breakdown of which is shown in the following table. This funding is used to provide the Board's services in all its offices across the country, as well as the support services provided to law centres centrally from the Board's head office.