A €3 million increase in funding will reduce waiting lists for legal aid, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said yesterday.
Speaking at the publication of the Legal Aid Board's annual report for 2003, the Minister said the increase of 16 per cent to €21.36 million for next year would enable the board to fill all existing solicitors vacancies.
It would also mean an immediate restoration of legal aid certificates for divorce and judicial separation cases in the Circuit Court and for domestic violence and family law cases under the private practitioners scheme in the District Court.
The Minister said the funding would also enable the establishment of a new scheme to engage private practitioners in divorce and judicial separation cases in the Circuit Court.
Referring to lawyers' fees, he said: "The Legal Aid Board strikes very tough bargains with the lawyers and I don't think the board will pay over the odds in any way at all."
Board chairperson Ms Anne Coley welcomed the increased funding. "We've had difficult times in the Legal Aid Board over the last couple of years. This report reflects the most difficult of those times which was last year," she said.
The Minister had taken on board what was said in discussions over resources.
The report showed the effects of cutbacks for 2003. Last year, the total number of cases in which legal services were provided was 19,500 as opposed to 21,300 in 2002.
The report showed that over 90 per cent of the litigation services provided by the board was in the area of family law. The longest waiting times for an initial appointment with a solicitor at December 2003 ranged from 16 months at Dublin's Brunswick Street centre to one month in Cavan and Westmeath.