Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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579. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that have availed of free legal aid services in each county in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017, by county. [36445/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The position in relation to applications made under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the number of legal aid certificates issued under the Criminal Legal Aid Act 1962 is set out below. It should be noted that the number of applications made under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the number of certificates issued under the Criminal Legal Aid Act 1962 does not equate to the number of persons granted legal aid as more than one certificate may be granted to any one person.

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 31 full-time law centres and a number of part-time law centres in Ireland. The Board also provides mediation services in 15 offices around the country to help separating couples to negotiate their own agreement.

It is not possible to give the number of applications by county as, 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 details in relation to applications made under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, by law centre, in respect of the years 2014 to date is provided in the table below. Unfortunately it is not possible to provide individual figures for each of the Board's law centres for 2011 to 2013, however the second table provided gives the total number of applications for the years 2011 to 2013.

Number of Applications by law centre

* Asylum Applications figures for 2017 are included in Smithfield, Seville House Galway & Cork North Law centres.

Total number of applications

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.

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.

I can inform the Deputy that the number of criminal legal aid certificates issued by the District Courts in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017 are set out in the table below. Statistics are not compiled in such a manner as to readily identify the number of certificates issued on a county-by-county basis and this information could not be compiled without disproportionate use of staff resources.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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580. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the funding which has been allocated to free legal aid services in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017 by county. [36446/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Legal aid services are funded by my Department under both the Civil and Criminal Legal Aid schemes.

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 31 full-time law centres and a number of part-time law centres in Ireland. The Board also provides mediation services in 15 offices around the country to help separating couples to negotiate their own agreement.

The majority of the Board's income consists of a grant received from the Department of Justice and Equality. 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. Therefore, 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.

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.

It is not possible to provide the cost of the scheme by county as the information is not readily available and could not be compiled on a county by county basiswithout disproportionate use of staff resources .

The annual funding provided by my Department in respect of civil and criminal legal aid is set out in the table below.