Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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482. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that have availed of free legal aid over each of the past five years by category of alleged crime; the proportion of them that have been convicted; the number that had previously been granted free legal aid in respect of other offences; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44527/21]

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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483. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the policy measures being considered by her Department to restrict access to free legal aid by repeat offenders including measures such as requiring them to pay a contribution towards the cost of their defence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44528/21]

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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484. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the cost of providing free legal aid over each of the past five years by county; the average cost per alleged offender; the average payment to legal practitioners over the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44529/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 482 to 484, inclusive, together.

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 Scheme, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of legal aid. An applicant for legal aid must establish to the satisfaction of the court that their means are insufficient to enable them to pay for legal aid themselves. The 1962 Act specifies that the court must also be satisfied that, by reason of the "gravity of the charge" or "exceptional circumstances", it is essential in the interests of justice that the applicant should have legal aid.

The provision of criminal legal aid in circumstances where a person is unable to fund their own criminal defence has been established as a Constitutional right in Irish law. There is no limit to the number of times that a person can be granted legal aid under the Scheme. Whether or not an applicant has received legal aid previously and / or has previous convictions is not considered in determining eligibility for legal aid.

It is not possible to provide the data on the cost of legal aid by county as the system is largely paper based and figures are not kept in such a manner that this data can be retrieved. As legal aid data is also not captured by offender neither is it possible to provide data on the costs per offender.

The costs for the main Criminal Legal Aid Scheme for each of the years 2016 to 2021 (to end August) was as follows:

Payments to legal practitioners for the period 2016 – 2020 are as follows:

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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485. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the categories of victims of crime that are currently entitled to free legal aid; the number that have availed of this service by year; her plans to extend this to other victims of crime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44530/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to my response provided on 27 July 2021 in respect of Dáil question number 1,368 and can confirm that the position remains unchanged.