Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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111. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the waiting times for an appointment for free legal aid, by county. [8852/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am interpreting the Deputy’s question as referring to civil legal aid. The provision of civil legal aid in the State is delivered by the Legal Aid Board pursuant to the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996 to 2017.

I am conscious that there are significant demands on the Board and that this gives rise to waiting times for certain services at most of the Board’s law centres. However, waiting times have been markedly reduced over the past couple of years due to measures introduced by the Board and the Deputy will be glad to know that the Board’s budget was increased to €40.275m in 2018.

The Board is extremely conscious that delays in service can lead to difficulties not just for the client but also for children, the wider family and the community, as well as the courts system. In this regard, the Board provides a priority service in respect of a number of areas such as domestic violence, child abduction, child care, and asylum and related matters. All other applications are placed on the waiting list.

An application for civil legal aid and advice can be made at any Legal Aid Board law centre, regardless of the county of residence of the applicant. For that reason, statistics in relation to waiting times are maintained by law centre rather than county.

I would advise the Deputy that the details of waiting times in each law centre are published on a monthly basis on the Legal Aid Board website. However, to be of assistance, I have included these figures in my response.

Legal Aid Board waiting times – 31 December 2017

I am informed that some 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 and the wait time for this is indicated by the second column (waiting for 2nd consultation).

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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112. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of free legal aid solicitors operating, by county. [8853/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am interpreting the Deputy’s question as referring to Civil Legal Aid. The provision of civil legal aid in the State is delivered through the Legal Aid Board pursuant to the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996 - 2017.

In addition to solicitors directly employed by the Board, it also engages private solicitors, under the Private Practitioner District Court Scheme, to assist in dealing with demand and has a separate panel to support service provision under the Abhaile scheme. Abhaile is the Government's free mortgage arrears support service. It is co-ordinated by my Department and the Department of Social Protection and is implemented by the Money Advice and Budgeting Service working in close co-operation with the Legal Aid Board, the Insolvency Service of Ireland and the Citizens Information Board.

The table indicates the number of solicitors currently operating by county through the Board's network of law centres.