Criminal legal aid scheme will not transfer to Legal Aid Board this year

Plans to transfer the criminal legal aid scheme to the Legal Aid Board will not go ahead this year, documents provided under the Freedom of Information Acts show.

The transfer of the scheme, which provides free legal aid to defendants who cannot afford to pay for representation, has been promised since 2011 and was part of plans to help reduce legal costs.

Documents released under FOI to The Irish Times record a meeting between the Department of Justice and the Legal Aid Board held last February that discussed progress on the transfer of the scheme.

The meeting noted that a draft bill to legislate for the transfer of the scheme had “not been progressed for some years” and “the Department flagged that it would probably be towards the end of 2014 before any real progress could be made” on the bill.

The new Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill to update and strengthen the system of granting legal aid including transferring responsibility for the administration of the scheme to the Legal Aid Board, had been promised by former minister for justice Alan Shatter in 2011. It was envisaged the transfer would take place last year.

The Bill was to have included improved regulation for taking statements of means, an increase in sanctions for false declarations and powers for the Legal Aid Board to verify the means of applicants and prosecute cases of abuse.

Provisions to allow the board to recover the costs of criminal legal aid or to make an application to the court to revoke legal aid certificates were also to be considered.

Under the current system judges grant legal aid to defendants who cannot afford to pay for it and the fees are paid through the Department of Justice.

Criminal legal aid cost about €50 million last 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.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the delay in drafting the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill was due to the fact that other more urgent legislative matters have taken precedence over it, such as the drafting of Insolvency legislation and the Criminal Procedures Bill.

Most of the remainder of the two-page note of the meeting provided to this newspaper was redacted. And an email requesting details of how the transfer of the scheme would operate had “dealt with by phone call” written below it.