State spends €50m on legal aid

The State’s spend providing criminal legal aid to defend the accused in criminal courts across the country last year topped almost €50m.

New figures supplied by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald show the spend last year totalled €49.9m — a drop of €1m on the 2013 figure of €50.9m.

This compares to a spend in 2012 of €50.5m and of €56.1m in 2011.