Address by Mr. Dermot Ahern T.D.,Minister for Justice and Law Reform at the Legal Aid Board 30th Anniversary Conference Access to Justice and Legal Aid: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future Law Society, Blackhall Place 15 September 2010

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Chief Justice, Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It’s a source of great satisfaction to me to have the opportunity to open this Conference marking 30 years of the existence of the Legal Aid Board. As many of you here know, my student, legal and political life has run very much in parallel with the establishment of the Board, its consolidation into a national service and its further development to take account of matters such as asylum legal services, human trafficking and further matters which I propose speaking about later.

As Minister for Justice and Law Reform I would like at the very outset to acknowledge the professionalism and commitment of successive Boards, solicitors and staff. It seems to be fashionable nowadays to be critical of Boards of State bodies and their contribution both to the operation of such bodies and to the national good. No such criticism can attach in the case of those serving on the Legal Aid Board. I am very conscious of the huge amount of work undertaken by Board members not just through the monthly Board meetings but also through the extensive duties required with the Appeal Committee, the Lawyers’ Committee and others. We owe considerable thanks to Anne Colley and her Board members.

I am probably most familiar with the operation of the Law Centre in my own home town of Dundalk and the excellent work of Deirdre McMichael and her team. But I know there is equal commitment across the network of 33 centres. One of the unfortunate downsides of the current economic difficulties facing the country has been the significant increases in the demand for legal services in almost every law centre. This increase is evident in a number of areas notably family law, employment and debt. The increase is also due to the fact that a greater number of people are now eligible for legal aid.

As Minister for Justice, I am proud to have ensured the continued financial support for the Board’s work. This support has been made easier for me by the fact that the Board has shown itself not just to be extremely productive but also extremely flexible in its operation. It has never shied away from undertaking further responsibilities which I or my predecessors have requested of it. These responsibilities reflect the extraordinary extent to which the environment has changed over the 30 years of the Board’s existence.

There have been considerable changes not just in the whole field of family law but in other areas too. Most of you will be aware of the work undertaken through the Refugee Legal Service which was established in 1999 as a specialised unit to provide confidential legal advice and assistance at all stages of the asylum process to persons applying for asylum here in Ireland. Over 40,000 clients have registered with the RLS in that time. Other notable changes have involved areas such as legal advice in potential human trafficking cases. I have published a new Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill on the 30th August which, amongst its other provisions, will put this arrangement on a statutory footing.

I am also particularly pleased at the manner in which the Board works with solicitors in private practice and with barristers. There has been no attempt by the Board to ringfence all legal aid work to be undertaken exclusively by Board staff accompanied by continued calls for further staff (though, I admit, I have had the occasional plea from the Chairperson and the Chief Executive). There is an excellent working relationship between the Board and private practitioners with solicitors on their panels handling significant workloads.

Reflecting back on the theme of this Conference is access to justice and, understandably, the particular emphasis today is on legal aid. But access to justice is, of course, a very wide concept and while legal aid is a most important aspect it does need to be understood that there are different ways in which access can be facilitated and improved upon. In so far as the wider system is concerned I can assure you as Minister that my Department, the Courts Service, the Legal Aid Board and other justice agencies are all actively engaged in programmes of work to bring about improvements. The Board itself is, for example, considering ways to promote further the case of mediation. The courts are also actively encouraging the use of alternative dispute resolution whether in family law or otherwise. Court rules of procedure in general are being systematically modernised to make them more effective and efficient. The legislative programmes of my Department are geared to modernising the law and the court system with the assistance of the Law Reform Commission.

I will turn if I may now to the future of the Legal Aid Board and further responsibilities that I propose assigning to it. One of the issues that has concerned me for some time is the fact that responsibility for legal aid is quite dispersed. Civil Legal Aid, as you know, sits with the Legal Aid Board. But not all of it. The Mental Health Commission which comes within the responsibility of the Department of Health and Children administers a legal aid scheme in respect of involuntarily detained psychiatric patients. The administration of Criminal Legal Aid sits within my Department as does the Attorney General’s Scheme, the Garda Station Scheme and the Criminal Assets Bureau scheme. In my view, this diffusion creates difficulties in relation to consistency of reporting, proper governance, cost containment, relevant research and appropriate accountability to Government and to the citizen. I have spoken before about the extent to which the cost of criminal legal aid has risen in the last decade (some €60m in 2009) and I appreciate that there are a number of reasons for this. Concern about the cost of legal aid is not confined to Ireland. Most other jurisdictions are grappling with exactly the same issue at a time when public finances across the developed world are under pressure. I am of the view that there is scope for a more strategic approach to this area.

I will therefore be bringing proposals to Government that responsibility for the administration of criminal legal aid as well as the related non statutory schemes should be assigned to the Legal Aid Board. The Board is the organisation where the greatest expertise relating to legal aid resides. It has a very strong record of achievement both in relation to delivery and effective management of services. I am confident that this integration of responsibility will lead to a better functioning, more efficient and more accountable means of managing legal aid to ensure that scarce finances are appropriately directed to the most needy in society. This decision, too, reflects a resounding vote of confidence in the Legal Aid Board and its capacity to take on such an important role.

I have as Minister promoted some important changes in legislation, not only to establish rights for persons but also to ensure that persons can bring proceedings, say, in the Circuit Court, rather than the High Court and so avoid higher legal costs. Furthermore, I am having the jurisdiction levels in general of the Courts examined further so as to establish the appropriate levels at this time and I am having developed proposals for a Bill that will provide a better and more informed system in relation to the question of legal costs.

I would hope to be in a position shortly also to discuss with my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, the possibility of also incorporating responsibility for the Mental Health Commission legal aid scheme within the Legal Aid Board. I feel this would offer far greater coherence and scope for accountability in relation to the entire area of legal aid.

In conclusion, I am delighted to have had the opportunity to address this Conference. It has a most impressive line-up of speakers. I wish you well for the day and beyond.

Thank you.