Free legal aid applications up by 20% as unemployment rises
The Legal Aid Board (LAB) Annual Report for 2008 also showed a 21% increase in the number of individual clients who registered for refugee legal services last year, as well as an increase in overall caseload and a rise in the number of cases processed by the board’s Private Practitioner Service. The growth in demand has led to longer waiting times for clients. LAB CEO Moling Ryan said that while just one of the organisation’s 31 centres last year had waiting times of a maximum of four months, as of this month, up to eight centres have seen average waiting times extend to four months and beyond.
He also said the number of applications this year is up 23% compared with the same time last year. The LAB provides advice and where required, legal representation in courts.
Anyone with an income of €18,000 or less, after allowances have been deducted, is eligible to use the service and can pay as little as €10 for advice and €50 for court representation.
Mr Ryan said due to rising unemployment, more people were entitled to use the LAB and there had been an increase in cases involving debt, employment law and family law cases. A further complication was that, unlike past years where a family home could be sold and the revenue used to resolve family law cases, now many family homes are in a negative equity situation and in many cases cannot be sold. “In my view we cannot have a situation where people in a traumatic family law situation are made to wait for an unconscionable period of time [for support],” he said. LAB chairperson Anne Colley said: “With an increasing number of applications for legal services, waiting times for initial appointments with solicitors are coming under further pressure... However, we are determined to... pursue our objective of providing a quality service within a reasonable timeframe.”
Overall the LAB received 15,107 new applications last year, amid concerns additional money will not be made available to cover the growth in demand this year. Exchequer funding for the LAB increased to €26.9m in 2008 and for the Refugee Legal Service – which dealt with 3,219 such cases last year – funding increased to €8.89m. An increase is unlikely this year, however, and centres are also under pressure due to a recruitment freeze which prevents cover being provided for maternity and sick leave. Last year there was a 29% increase in the number of cases dealt with in court by the Private Practitioner Service, in which private solicitors work on cases for the LAB. Discussions with the Law Society and the Bar Council on dealing with caseload growth while working within existing resources continue.
