Extra funding to restore work of Legal Aid Board
But the additional funds may only restore waiting lists to their 2002 level rather than kickstart a downward trend after a period in which the board had to substantially reduce services because of cutbacks.
The board’s annual report shows that its funding allocation in 2003, which was down on 2002, and in 2004, which represented only a modest increase, forced it to reduce the number of legal aid cases it could take on in the Circuit Court as well as the number of private practitioners it could engage for District Court work.
It also forced the board to scale back the number of its employees and prevented it from taking on replacements for members of staff who went on maternity leave or other leave arrangements.
Waiting lists grew in 23 of the board’s 30 law centres throughout the year and doubled or more than doubled at five of the seven Dublin centres as well as at the centres at Pope’s Quay, Cork; Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Monaghan, Sligo, Waterford and Wexford.
Board chairperson, Anne Colley, said: “We have had difficult times over the last number of years.” She added, however, that Justice Minister Michael McDowell had recognised the board’s difficulties in securing substantially increased funding for 2005.
Next year’s allocation of €21.4 million represented a 16% increase on last year and would allow the board to fill all existing solicitor vacancies and immediately restore the level of legal aid certificates.
She said it would also enable the board to establish a new scheme to engage private practitioners for use in divorce and judicial separation cases in the Circuit Court.
The board provided legal services in a total of 19,500 cases in 2003, including 13,000 which received direct assistance from the law centres, 5,600 dealt with by the Refugee Legal Service and 900 through the private practitioner scheme. That was down on the previous year’s total of 21,300.
Divorce, judicial separation and annulments were the most common proceedings, accounting for 6,125 cases, while the rest related to childcare property disputes and other family and civil law matters. Legal aid was granted in 3,565 cases while others were put on waiting lists and 3,504 were dealt with by way of advice only.
The number of cases coming to the Refugee Legal Service continued to rise despite the reduction in asylum applications. The number of new clients in 2003 was 5,610, even though new asylum applications fell by 40%.
