Plans to transfer responsibility for the criminal legal aid system to the Legal Aid Board are to be delayed until at least 2014.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter had told the Dáil he would publish a new Justice (Legal Aid) Amendment Bill in 2012. The Bill was to include a provision to transfer responsibility for the management and administration of criminal legal aid from the Department of Justice to the Legal Aid Board.
It was envisaged that transfer would take place this year. The Bill was also intended to better regulate the taking of statements of means, increase the sanction for false declarations and allow the board to verify the means of applicants and to prosecute cases of abuse.
However, it has not yet been published. Mr Shatter has now said he hopes it will be possible to publish the Bill “during the course of this year”.
Sources have said the impetus for the Bill and the transfer of criminal legal services to the board has stalled at departmental level.
The current criminal legal aid system in Ireland costs in the region of €50 million a year, down from a high of more than €60 million in 2009. In the last few years, fees to practitioners have been reduced and there were also cuts in travel, subsistence and other payments.
It was anticipated once the Legal Aid Board took over the administration of the criminal legal aid system, an evaluation of costs and structure would be undertaken to identify any other possible cost savings.
However, it is unlikely any further cost cutting measures would mirror those currently being considered in the UK.
The British ministry of justice is currently consulting with practitioners on plans to run tenders for criminal legal aid to help reduce its €1.18 billion costs. Companies will submit bids for three-year contracts and it's expected the number of legal aid providers will be reduced from around 1,600 to 400. Defendants will no longer be able to choose who represents them and the successful companies will be guaranteed a certain level of work.
Concerns
Legal practitioners have raised many concerns, including that contracts will go to the lowest bidder and quality and access to justice will be sacrificed in a bid to save money.
Changes to civil legal aid funding in the UK have already been made, and whereas in the past access to free legal advice, for example for a divorce or for housing matters, was easily obtainable, such areas are no longer covered.
In Ireland, it is still possible for people on low incomes to get advice for civil matters such as separation, divorce, maintenance and custody for a nominal fee, but the Legal Aid Board has increasingly struggled to keep waiting times down. Earlier this year, chairman of the board Moling Ryan said he was concerned about waits of up to 13 months in some areas of the country. The board has 33 law centres and demand for the service grew by 93 per cent between 2006 and 2011. Though there was a drop in demand by 10 per cent in 2012, the organisation has said it was stretched to its limits on a €32 million budget.
The most recent figures available show wait times have continued to increase, to 16 months in two areas and 10 months or over in almost half.
Noeline Blackwell, director of Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac), which provides basic legal advice to the public as well as lobbying on legal issues, said the board's budget has been maintained by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter but had previously been cut by millions.
“And because of the restriction on recruitment, like all public services, it has deteriorated enormously,” she said.
Ms Blackwell said she appreciated the board was doing the best it could with its resources including offering initial triage and mediation where appropriate. “But at the end of the day the real problem in Ireland now is your access to justice and the courts is more and more dependent on the amount of money you have,” she said.
