Ireland's legal aid spend one of highest in Europe

Ireland’s spend on the judicial system is among the lowest across a 45-member group of European countries but our spend on legal aid is one of the highest.

The Council of Europe’s detailed analysis also said that Ireland had a “particularly low” clearance rate in the disposal of criminal cases across the countries.

The council’s European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice report said the lowest budget allocations to the judicial system as a percentage of GDP in 2016 were Ireland (0.09%), followed by Norway (0.12%), and Malta (0.16%).

A large swathe of countries spent in the region of 0.20%-0.30%, with the highest amount being allocated by Bosnia (0.77%), Morocco (0.58%) and Bulgaria (0.56%).

It said Ireland has increased its judicial budget by 5.4% between 2014 and 2016.

The Council of Europe is a human rights organisation and includes the EU’s 28 members states among its 47-strong membership. This report was based on 45 of the states.

The report said England & Wales, the Netherlands and Ireland are “the most generous states” in terms of the amount of money allocated to legal aid per case.

Ireland is third at €1,107 per case, compared to an average of €429, and is the sixth highest for the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants (1,772), compared to the average of 658.

The report said six countries limit the amount that can be allocated, while four states limit both the number of eligible cases and the amount spent per case.

In Ireland, the scheme is operated by the judiciary. Last week, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General found that €58.1m was spent on legal aid for criminal cases in 2017, €8.8m in excess of the Estimates provision for the year. The civil aid scheme was €200,000 over budget.

Among the 45 states, 17 had reduced their legal aid budget, while 19 had increased it.

Based on the available figures, the report said that Ireland had the second lowest number of professional judges (3.5) per 100,000 people, second only to England & Wales (3). The average was 21.

The report said factors such as the common law system used in Britain and Ireland and the substantial volume of litigation settled need to be considered.

The salaries of judges here are three times the national average salary when a judge starts their career, and five times at the height of their career.

The report said Ireland had one of the largest decreases in prosecutorial assistants (apart from judges and prosecutors) who would work in secretariats, research, case preparation or assisting a prosecution.

It said Ireland had 262 lawyers per 100,000 people, compared to the average of 162, placing it eleventh in the table.

Ireland had two courts per 100,000 people, the same as the average of the 45 states.

It also noted this country had a “particularly low” clearance rate for the disposal of cases.