Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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182. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to reduce the State's annual expenditure on free criminal legal aid, which stood at over €50 million in 2013; his plans to limit the amount that any individual provider can draw from the State in professional fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10061/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Expenditure on criminal legal aid in recent years is set out in the table below.

Under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, the courts, through the judiciary, are responsible for the granting of criminal legal aid. Applicants for legal aid must establish to the satisfaction of the court that their means are insufficient to enable them to pay for legal representation. The court must also be satisfied that, by reason of the gravity of the charge or exceptional circumstances, it is essential in the interests of justice that the applicant should have legal aid.

The nature of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme is that it is demand led, driven by the incidence of crime, detection rates and the prosecution of cases through the courts system. This renders it difficult to predict and control costs. Since taking office I have however introduced a number of adjustments to the legal aid fees payable under the Scheme. Regulations introduced in 2011 imposed a reduction of 10% in the fees payable in the District Court. Fees payable in the Circuit and higher courts were similarly reduced by 10% in line with a reduction in the fees payable by the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecution practitioners. A reduction of 50% was applied to payments in respect of travel and subsistence expenses payable to solicitors in certain circumstances. There is no entitlement for barristers to claim travel and subsistence expenses under the Scheme. Expenditure on the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme is monitored on an ongoing basis with a view to identifying any areas where further efficiencies may be achieved.

Legal representation under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme is provided entirely by solicitors and barristers in private practice who have notified the County Registrars (in the case of solicitors) and my Department (in the case of barristers) of their willingness to be placed on panels for the undertaking of legal aid work. The Judge who grants legal aid to a defendant assigns to that person a solicitor from the panel. Where the criminal legal aid certificate permits representation by counsel, a barrister from the panel is instructed at the discretion of the acting solicitor. My Department has no involvement in the day to day running of the Scheme, the granting of legal aid or the assignment of lawyers. These matters are handled entirely by the courts.