THIS YEAR will see a major reorganisation of the administration of legal aid and related services. For the first time both criminal and civil legal aid, along with family mediation, will be administered by the Legal Aid Board. This has been renewed by the appointment of a new board and a new chairwoman following the expiry of the term of office of her predecessor.
The Legal Aid Board received more than 17,000 applications for legal assistance in 2010, an increase of 21 per cent on the previous year and of 74 per cent since 2006. That figure is likely to have risen again in 2011. Meanwhile, exchequer funding for the civil legal aid service fell by 8 per cent and staffing levels fell by 7 per cent that year. Much of the increased demand is driven by changing economic circumstances, as more people qualify for legal aid due to reduced income, while unemployment and debt create legal difficulties for people and put strain on family relationships, often leading to family breakdown. Waiting lists for a first appointment ran to many months in 2011.
The Minister for Justice has acknowledged the pressure on the service, and the 2012 allocation remains the same as that for 2011. Nonetheless, it will be very difficult for the Legal Aid Board to maintain a service for those who need it. New methods of working will go some way towards easing the pressure, and the reduction in the demand for the refugee legal aid service should permit the reallocation of some resources. In addition, bringing the Family Mediation Service under its remit should bring about the diversion of at least some cases away from the courts.
It is vital that there are no further cuts in this area, or thousands of people will be left without legal representation when they need it. Not only will this expose them to injustice, it will lead to far more cases involving lay litigants going to court. Such cases can be vastly more difficult and time-consuming and an increase in their number will greatly reduce the efficiency of an already stretched court system.
Bringing criminal legal aid under the remit of the Legal Aid Board could lead to greater transparency in the administration of this scheme and to increased efficiency, and the Legal Aid Board is going to examine how it operates before proposing any changes. However, the Minister has stated his intention to reduce the criminal legal aid budget by €10 million in 2012, and this could result in reducing access to justice for those accused of a crime whose liberty is often at stake, most of whom are already educationally and socially disadvantaged. Even as it stands, our system of criminal legal aid is cheaper than that in the neighbouring jurisdictions.
The demand for criminal legal aid arises from the incidence of crime and the success of the Gardai in bringing prosecutions – it is not discretionary. There is waste in the criminal justice system, notably the sums spent on Garda overtime in cases which are adjourned. This should be tackled, and the whole process of justice carefully examined, before the imposition of cuts that could reduce access to justice for the most disadvantaged.