Written answers
Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Department of Justice and Equality
Legal Aid Service
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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219. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reason there is a delay in the payment of criminal legal aid fees to solicitors and barristers in some of the District Court and Circuit Court areas; the reason for the delay; the time period from date of application to the District Court or Circuit Court Office for the payment of the fees to the date that same are paid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32075/20]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 provides that free legal aid may be granted, in certain circumstances, for the defence of persons of insufficient means in criminal proceedings. Under the Act, the grant of legal aid entitles the applicant to the services of a solicitor and, in certain circumstances, up to two counsel, in the preparation and conduct of their defence or appeal.
Under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, fees are paid to solicitors and counsel by the Financial Shared Services (FSS) Division of my Department. Fee payments are made on receipt of properly completed claim forms from the Courts Service which have been initially completed by solicitors and Counsel and then subsequently completed and certified by Court Clerks/Court Registrars. Certified forms are sent from the relevant Court office to my Department’s FSS Division in Killarney, Co Kerry.
I am informed by the FSS Division that the majority of claims received are processed within a 10 day time frame. On occasions this timeframe may extend slightly when several thousand applications are received at the one time, as has happened periodically over the last number of months. One such spike in claims received occurred again last week where FSS received 5,875 claims.
I understand that the Deputy is particularly concerned about the Cork city and county areas and in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made with the Court Service regarding the numbers of legal aid claims on hand in these areas. I have been informed that while there are no arrears for the Cork City and Mallow Court Offices, the Clonakilty Court Office currently has 160 claims on hand, the earliest of which were received in mid-July 2020. It is expected that these claims will be processed shortly.
All court offices have been under significant pressure since March managing the arrangement of courts during the pandemic. I am advised by the Courts Service that despite this, the staff working in these offices have largely kept up to date with all administration work, including the processing of legal aid claims.
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