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Annual Report 2000Annual Report 2000
Annual Report 2000
CONTENTS
Foreword by the Chairperson 2
Head Office Executive staff 4
The Board 5
Functions of the Board 6
Developments in 2000 6
Five year review 7
Capacity of the Board to meet demand for services 9
Cases dealt with in 2000 11
Use of private practitioners 13
Refugee Legal Service 14
Summary account of a selection of legally aided cases 16
Staff matters and industrial relations 23
Finance 26
Appendices
1. Legal Aid Fund 30
2. Statistics for 2000 41
3. Law Centres 43
4. Means Test 48
5. Leaflets 49
P.N. 10676
1
Legal Aid Board
FOREWORD
This is my sixth and final Annual Report asChairperson of the Legal Aid Board. In 2000, boththe resources available to, and the services providedby, the Board continued to grow against thebackground of an ever-changing social andadministrative environment.
The Board provided services to almost 18,000 clientsin 2000. These services consisted of advice,representation before the Refugee Appeals Tribunaland representation in courts at all levels. The servicesinvolved were provided from 30 permanent lawcentres, 14 part-time law centres and one dedicatedcentre for asylum seekers.
The level of resources provided by the Government forthe provision of legal aid continues to increase. In2000 the Board’s grant-in-aid was almost £13 million- an increase of 54% in the period 1997-2000. Inaddition, in 2000 funding of £1 million was approvedfor the Refugee Legal Service. I would like to thankthe Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform,Mr. John O’Donoghue T.D., and his officials formaking the necessary resources available to the Boardand for their continuing support.
In last year’s Annual Report, I expressed myexpectation that a further reduction in waiting periodsfor the legal services would take place in 2000. I ampleased to report that waiting periods were furtherreduced in the majority of law centres. The change,which has been gradual, came about as a result ofthe introduction of increased resources, includingadditional staff, the greater involvement of privatepractitioners in the provision of services and adecrease in demand for legal services.
One of the key tasks arising from the Programme forProsperity and Fairness is the roll-out of a newperformance management and development system(PMDS). The system aims to provide the frameworkfor staff in the Board to move towards improvedperformance, greater job satisfaction and betterservice delivery while developing their skills andknowledge base. Further information on PMDS, theStrategic Management Initiative and Partnershipwithin the Board is to be found on page 22.
As part of a move towards increased accountability inthe public service, the Government has introduced asystem for reviewing expenditure on various services.The Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reformand Finance commenced a review of civil legal aid in2000. The findings of this review will be presented tothe Board in 2001.
In 2000, much work was carried out by the Board togive effect to the Government decision to transfer its
Head Office to Cahirciveen, Co Kerry. A site for thenew Head Office was acquired and construction willbe completed in early 2002. The Board subsequentlydecided to acquire temporary accommodation with aview to transferring certain sections of Head Office toCahirciveen in 2001. A high level of applications wasreceived from within the civil service for thevacancies, which will arise as a result of thedecentralisation.
As the term of office of the current Board ends inOctober 2001, I have arranged for a short review ofthe Board’s term of office to be included on pages7-10 of this report.
I would like to thank my fellow Board members, theBoard’s management team and all staff in HeadOffice and law centres for their ongoing commitmentto the provision of a professional, efficient and costeffective legal aid service.
I am very glad to have had the opportunity tocontribute with my colleagues at a time critical to theBoard’s development. I realise that this process isongoing and that there is no room for complacency inrelation to continuing change. As the needs of societychange, the Board must respond in a proactivemanner in order to continue to meet the needs of itscustomers. Unfortunately, due to increasedprofessional commitments I have had to advise theMinister that I will not be available to serve on a newBoard. Personally, I regret that I will not continue tobe part of the process of change in the Board, onefrom which I have gained very valuable experience oforganisational expansion and change. I wouldhowever, finally like to take this opportunity to wishthe incoming Chairperson and Board every successduring their term of office.
Clare ConnellanChairpersonSeptember 2001
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Annual Report 2000
RÉAMHRÁ
Seo an séú Tuarascáil Bhliantúil uaim, agus an ceanndeireanach, mar Chathaoirleach ar an mBord umChúnamh Dlíthiúil. Sa bhliain 2000, lean acmhainníagus seirbhísí an Bhoird de bheith ag méadú laistighde thimpeallacht shóisialta agus riaracháin atá agathrú i gcónaí.
Thug an Bord Seirbhísí do bheagnach 18,000 cliantle linn na bliana 2000. Is é a bhí sna seirbhísí sinná comhairle a thabhairt, ionadaíocht a dhéanamh oscomhair an Bhinse Achomhairc do Dhídeanaithe agusionadaíocht a dhéanamh i gcúirteanna ag gachleibhéal. Cuireadh na seirbhísí lena mbaineann arfáil i 30 buanionad dlí, i 14 ionad dlí páirtaimsearthaagus in aon sainionad amháin do dhaoine a lorgaíonntearmann.
Tá leibhéal na n-acmhainní a sholáthraíonn an Rialtaschun cúnamh dlíthiúil a thabhairt ag méadú i gcónaí.Sa bhliain 2000, beagnach £13 mhilliún a bhí sadeontas i gcabhair a fuair an Bord – b’ionann sinagus méadú 54% sa tréimhse 1997-2000. Inatheannta sin, ceadaíodh maoiniú £1 mhilliún sabhliain 2000 don tSeirbhís Dhlíthiúil doDhídeanaithe. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháilleis an Aire Dlí agus Cirt, Comhionannais agusAthchóirithe Dlí, an tUas. Seán Ó Donnchú, T.D.,agus lena chuid oifigeach, as na hacmhainníriachtanacha a chur ar fáil don Bhord agus as adtacaíocht leanúnach.
Sa Tuarascáil Bhliantúil a bhí ann anuraidh, léirighmé go raibh súil agam go dtarlódh laghdú eile le linn2000 ar na tréimhsí feithimh i dtaca leis na seirbhísídlíthiúla. Is cúis áthais dom a thuairisciú gurlaghdaíodh na tréimhsí feithimh sa chuid is mó ionaddlí. Tharla an t-athrú de réir a chéile agus de thoradhacmhainní méadaithe a thabhairt isteach, lena n-áirítear foireann bhreise agus páirteachas níos mó arthaobh cleachtóirí príobháideacha i dtaca le seirbhísía sholáthar. Tá cúiseanna éagsúla ann le laghdú aran éileamh ar sheirbhísí dlíthiúla agus táthar agglacadh leis go dtiocfaidh athrú ar an treocht sin debharr an mhéadaithe bheartaithe ar theorainneachaioncaim sa bhliain 2001.
Ceann de na tascanna is tábhachtaí a d’éirigh as angClár um Rathúnas agus Cothroime ná forbairt córaisnua bainistíochta feidhmíochta agus forbartha(CBFF). Is é aidhm an chórais ná creat a chur ar fáildon fhoireann sa Bhord inar féidir leo dul i dtreofeidhmíochta níos fearr, ina bhfaighidh siad níos mósásaimh óna gcuid oibre agus ina dtabharfar seirbhísníos fearr agus, ag an am céanna, inar féidir leo agcuid scileanna agus a gcuid eolais a fhorbairt. Tátuilleadh eolais faoi CBFF, faoi BhainistíochtStraitéiseach agus faoi Chomhpháirtíocht laistigh denBhord le fáil ar leathanach 22.
Mar chuid den athrú i dtreo cuntasaíochta méadaithesa tseirbhís phoiblí, tá an Rialtas i ndiaidh córas athabhairt isteach chun athbhreithniú a dhéanamh archaiteachas ar sheirbhísí éagsúla. Le linn na bliana2000, chuir an Roinn Dlí agus Cirt, Comhionannaisagus Athchóirithe Dlí agus an Roinn Airgeadais tús lehathbhreithniú ar chúnamh dlíthiúil sibhialta.Déanfar na cinntí a éireoidh as an athbhreithniú sin athíolacadh don Bhord sa bhliain 2001.
Le linn na bliana 2000, rinne an Bord cuid mhóroibre chun éifeacht a thabhairt do chinneadh anRialtais Ceannoifig an Bhoird a aistriú go CathairSaidhbhín, Co. Chiarraí. Fuarthas láithreán donCheannoifig nua agus críochnófar an obair thógála goluath sa bhliain 2002. Ina dhiaidh sin, chinn anBord ar chóiríocht shealadach a fháil d’fhonn rannógaáirithe de chuid na Ceannoifige a aistriú go CathairSaidhbhín sa bhliain 2001. Fuarthas ardleibhéaliarratas, ó dhaoine laistigh den Státseirbhís, ar nafolúntais a bheidh ann mar gheall ar an dílárnú.
Ó tharla go mbeidh deireadh le téarma oifige anBhoird láithrigh i mí Dheireadh Fómhair 2001, tásocrú déanta agam go ndéanfar athbhreithniú gairidar théarma oifige an Bhoird a chur san áireamh arleathanaigh 7-10 den tuarascáil seo.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le mochomhchomhaltaí den Bhord, le foireannbhainistíochta an Bhoird agus leis an bhfoireann goléir sa Cheannoifig agus sna hionaid dlí as andúthracht leanúnach i leith seirbhís chúnaimhdhlíthiúil ghairmiúil, éifeachtúil agus chost-éifeachtach a sholáthar.
Tá an-áthas orm go raibh deis agam a bheithpáirteach, i gcomhar le mo chuid comhghleacaithe, ibhforbairt an Bhoird le linn na tréimhse tábhachtaíseo. Tuigim gur próiseas leanúnach é seo agus nachféidir a bheith bogásach i dtaca le hathrú leanúnach.De réir mar a thagann athrú ar riachtanais na sochaíbeidh ar an mBord feidhmiú ar shlí ghníomhaíochchun leanúint de fhreastal ar riachtanais a chuidcustaiméirí. Ar an drochuair, mar gheall ar dhualgaismhéadaithe ghairmiúla, bhí orm a chur in iúl don Airenach mbeidh mé ar fáil chun fónamh ar Bhord nua.Is oth liom, go pearsanta, nach mbeidh mé páirteachi gcónaí sa phróiseas athraithe sa Bhord, ar próiseas éóna bhfuair mé taithí an-luachmhar ar leathnú agusar athrú eagrúcháin. Mar fhocal scoir, ba mhaith lioman deis seo a thapú chun gach rath a ghuí ar angcathaoirleach nua agus ar an mBord nua le linn adtéarma oifige.
Clare ConnellanCathaoirleachMean Fomhair, 2001
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HEAD OFFICE EXECUTIVE STAFF
Chief Executive: Frank Goodman
Director of Legal Aid: Frank Brady
Director of Human Resources: Pat Fitzsimons
Director of Operations: Dara Mullally
Assistant Directors, Legal Aid: Clare KellyEileen BowdenMichelle O’Mahony
Assistant Director, Human Resources: Eamonn Purcell
Assistant Director, Information Technology: Evelyn McGuinness
Assistant Director, Organisation & Corporate Support: Bernard O’Shea
Financial Controller: Joan Enright
Auditors: Comptroller and Auditor General
Head Office: P.O. Box 16,Cahirciveen,Co KerryPh: 066 947 1000Fax: 066 947 1035
Dublin Office: St Stephens Green House, Earlsfort Terrace,Dublin, 2Ph: 01 2400 900Fax: 01 2400 972
Legal Aid Board
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Computer generated artists impression of new Legal Aid Offices in Cahirciveen
Annual Report 2000
5
Caoimhín Ó hUiginnAssistant Secretary,
Department of Justice,
Equality and Law Reform
Dermot CondonPrincipal Officer,
Department of Social, Community and
Family Affairs
Louise CrivonBarrister-at-law, Member of Family
Lawyers Association, former Counsellor
with Marriage Counselling Service, Dublin
Áine ElliottChairperson, Dun Laoghaire V.E.C.,
Member Dun Laoghaire Harbour Board
Paddy HowardPrincipal Officer,
Department of Finance
Patrick C. KennedyBarrister-at-law, former Senator, formerly
Mayor of Limerick, and President of
Limerick Chamber of Commerce
Mary MaherIrish Times Staff Journalist, Member of
the Irish Executive Council, National
Union of Journalists
Dan McCarthyDairy farmer; National Council Member of
I.C.M.S.A. and Chairman of its Rural
Development Committee
Nessa McMahonStaff Representative; Law Clerk,
Law Centre, Athlone
Frank MurphyStaff Representative;
Managing Solicitor, Law Centre, Wicklow
Bernadette OwensSolicitor
Anne WatkinBarrister-at-law;
Chairman of Kerry Adapt
Clare Connellan (Chairperson)Solicitor; Law Agent, I.C.C. Bank plc; Chairman of Law Society Disciplinary Tribunal
THE BOARD
Legal Aid Board
FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD
The Legal Aid Board administers civil legal aid inaccordance with the terms of the Civil Legal Aid Act,1995, and Regulations made thereunder. The Actallows for the provision of legal aid and legal advice incivil cases to persons who satisfy the financial eligibilityand merits test laid down in the Act and Regulations.The Act also provides for the provision of information inrelation to its services and their availability.
Legal aid is available for representation forproceedings in the District, Circuit, High andSupreme Courts. Legal aid is not available for theconduct of proceedings before an administrativetribunal, except for appeals against the refusal ofrefugee status. Legal advice and assistance can beprovided, however, to persons involved inproceedings before any tribunal.
The function of the Legal Aid Board is to make theservices of solicitors and, where necessary,barristers available to qualifying persons. Legal aidand advice is provided, in the main, through lawcentres by solicitors in the full-time employment ofthe Board. The services of counsel are provided inaccordance with the terms of an agreementbetween the Bar Council and the Board.
The Board’s private practitioner scheme in theDistrict Court was launched on a nation-wide basisin 2000 to assist the Board in its efforts to providea service to all applicants within a reasonableperiod of time. This scheme provides acomplementary legal service to that provided fromlaw centres for certain family law matters in theDistrict Court namely, domestic violence,maintenance and custody/access. In May 2001,the Board introduced a one-year pilot project whichprovides for an extension of the PrivatePractitioner Scheme to divorce and judicialseparation cases in the Circuit Court.
The Board operates a dedicated serviceknown as the Refugee Legal Service (RLS)to provide legal advice and assistance toasylum seekers at all stages of the asylumprocess, including representation before theRefugee Appeals Tribunal.
Expenditure incurred by the Board in theoperation of its services is met from theLegal Aid Fund. This fund consists of agrant-in-aid from the Department of Justice,Equality and Law Reform, contributionsfrom aided persons and other income,including specific funding from theOireachtas for the RLS.
DEVELOPMENTS IN 2000
There were a number of significant developmentsduring the period under review, the most importantof which are as follows:-
• the Board’s grant-in-aid was increased by 8%from £11.95 million in 1999 to £12.90 millionin 2000;
• the number of staff sanctioned for the RefugeeLegal Service (RLS) has increased from 30 inFebruary 1999 to 140 staff in 2000 to meet theincrease in demand for legal services by asylumseekers;
• the RLS provided legal services to approximately3,400 asylum seekers in 2000 which representsan increase of 111% over the 1999 figure of1,600;
• at the end of December 2000, the waiting timesfor a first appointment with a solicitor had beenreduced in 18 law centres as compared toDecember 1999, and had been reduced to lessthan three months in 14 law centres;
• the number of persons awaiting a firstappointment with a solicitor had reduced by24% from 2,900 in December 1999 to 2,200at the end of December 2000;
• in May 2000 the private practitioner service wasextended nation-wide and 900 persons wereassisted in District Court family law matters byprivate practitioners; and
• in June 2000 the Board published a series ofinformation leaflets on the range of legalservices that it provides and further leaflets areplanned for publication in late 2001.
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Opening of Sligo Law Centre: From left: Karen Feehily, Chris Keane,Phil Armstrong, Mr. John O’Donoghue T.D., Minister for Justice,Equality and Law Reform, Fiona Maguire (Managing Solicitor)
Annual Report 2000
FIVE YEAR REVIEW
As the period of office of the Board draws to anend, the opportunity arises to reflect on the yearssince this Board took office. The current Board wasappointed in1995 and the first meeting wasconvened on 11 May 1995. The Board consistedalmost entirely of new members who thereforeinitially found themselves on a steep learningcurve. The then Chief Executive, Pearse Rayel,retired in July of 1995.
In late 1995, the members of the Board decidedthat substantial developments were required in allareas related to the management and control of theBoard and its services. This decision was promptedby the concern in relation to the absence of normalsupport services such as information technologyand library facilities, and an inadequate number ofsenior management staff to manage theorganisation. There were also concerns in relationto the unsatisfactory state of staff relations withthe solicitors’ unions in the Board.
The new CEO, Frank Goodman, was appointed inlate October 1995 when the Board decided to usethe framework created by the StrategicManagement Initiative to introduce the changesrequired. Since that date the Board has preparedtwo Corporate or Strategic Plans for the periods,1996 – 2000, and 1999 - 2002.
These plans were prepared, with the assistance ofexternal consultants, and involved wide rangingconsultation with staff of all levels. Furthermore,the actual implementation plans for the strategiesidentified are being carried through by five workgroups again representing staff of all levels andfrom different geographic regions. To date inexcess of 100 staff members have been involved inthe work of these groups.
The work groups deal with the following areas:
• Staff Development;• Communications;• Information Technology;• Professional Procedures; and• Administrative Procedures.
The groups have been in existence for just fiveyears and have completed a range of tasks someinteresting, some more routine, but all essential tothe running of an efficient public service.
Some of the highlights of the work programmes ofthe groups are laid out below:-
Staff Development
As part of its programme of work, the StaffDevelopment group arranged a training needsanalysis which resulted in the development of anoverall training policy and the appointment of aTraining / Communications Officer. A target spendof 3% of the payroll for training was reached in allbut one year since 1997. This training needsanalysis was subsequently updated in 1998.
Communications
The Communications work group has, as part of itsprogramme of work, introduced a comprehensiveseries of information leaflets that are available ineach of the law centres and in relevant locationssuch as the courts. This group has recentlyembarked on a series of client surveys to fulfil theBoard’s obligations under its Customer ServiceAction Plan.
Information Technology
The IT work group has introduced a local and widearea network infrastructure designed to provideinternal communications and is currently beingextended to external communications. The tendersfor the contract for a legal case managementsystem have been submitted and the contract willbe awarded in the near future. The Board’s websitehas been launched and is currently beingexpanded.
Professional Procedures
The Professional Procedures work group hasundertaken a substantial number of tasks. Thesetasks include the consolidation of all circularsissued prior to March 2000 covering theprofessional workings of the Board. The group hasalso reviewed and developed the procedures inlegal aid decision making. The group, in liaisonwith the IT work group, is involved in the ongoingdevelopment of professional packages for ITpurposes. The group has also been instrumental inthe introduction of library and research facilities.
Administrative Procedures
The Administrative Procedures work group hasissued standardised procedures on purchasing,income assessments, and accounts. The group hasreviewed, in liaison with the IT section, theapplication procedures for the purposes of theintroduction of computerisation. The group iscurrently working on a comprehensive legal aidhandbook for internal use and for use by privatepractitioners in the area.
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Legal Aid Board
Staff relations
The Board commissioned a report to be carried outon the staff relations in the Board. This wasundertaken by an external consultant and thefindings were published in May 1998. This reportwas accepted by the Board and unions. Work onthe implementation of the recommendations issubstantively complete.
Board subcommittees
The Board has also, over the last five years, set upa number of subcommittees of its members. Theseinclude an Appeal Committee, an “Act andRegulations” committee which consists of thelawyer members of the Board, a FinanceCommittee, and a Personnel Committee.
The interaction between Board members and bothmanagement and staff has been a positive force forchange within the Board.
Family law
The majority of the Board’s advice and aid servicesrelate to family law and this work is carried out ina rapidly changing environment. The pressures ofthe modern world have produced huge sociologicalchanges in Ireland and elsewhere since the Board’sfoundation in 1980. The increasingly mobilepopulation means that it is not uncommon for afamily to have substantial connections with morethan one country, introducing an internationaldimension to family law. Today, family law hasbecome a complex and specialist area of lawwithin which separate specialisations aredeveloping. As the remedies and reliefs availablehave vastly improved, more people turn to the lawto resolve their problems. These changes haveimpacted and will continue to impact upon thework of law centres.
Over the period of this Board there have beensignificant changes in the area of family lawlegislation, most notably the introduction of theFamily Law (Divorce) Act, 1996. In June 1998,when the full impact of the divorce legislation wasbeing felt, 4,200 people were awaiting legalservices. By June 2001 this figure has beenreduced significantly to 1,650 people.
Refugee legal service
In the other major development of the civil legal aidservice that this Board has overseen, the Board andthe Minister reached an agreement that enabled theBoard to represent asylum seekers before asylumappeals authorities. The Minister utilised his powerunder the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995 to extend the
Board’s jurisdiction to include the provision of legalaid at these tribunals. These Ministerial Orders weremade in April and August, 1999.
The Board established the Refugee Legal Service(RLS) as a separate office in February 1999 with astaff of 30 and a budget of £1 million. The serviceopened to provide a professional and independentlegal service to asylum seekers at all stages of theasylum process. The RLS has never operated awaiting list for legal services. This is due, in part,to the nature of the work and its strict timeconstraints and also to the fact that specificresources were allocated to deal with this area ofwork. As the demand for the service has grown,additional resources have been sanctioned.
The RLS was initially located in the “one stopshop” complex in Lower Mount Street set up toprovide a comprehensive service to asylumapplicants. The building also housed the office ofthe United Nations High Commissioner forRefugees (UNHCR), the Appeals Authorities andHealth Board personnel, in addition to staff of theDepartment of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Due to the increase in resources provided to theBoard, however, new premises have been acquired.The RLS retains a presence in Lower Mount Streetbut has since moved the majority of its staff toother Dublin premises. In 2000, the Boardreceived sanction to increase the number of staffin the Refugee Legal Service to 140, and theadditional staff have almost all been fully recruitedand trained.
In response to the Government’s policy to disperseasylum seekers to locations throughout Ireland,regional offices of the RLS have been opened inGalway and Cork. The budget for the RLSincreased from £1 million in 1999 to over £8m in2001 to facilitate this expanded service.
The RLS provided legal services to 1,600 asylumseekers in 1999 and to over 3,400 asylum seekersin 2000.
Cahirciveen
In July 1999, the Minister informed the Board ofthe Government’s decision to relocate the Board’sHead Office to Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry. The Boardconducted an impact and feasibility assessmentand its report concluded that 42 of Head Officeposts could function effectively from Cahirciveenbut that a small presence in Dublin should beretained. In July 2001 the first phase of therelocation to Cahirciveen took place. A temporary
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Annual Report 2000
office now accommodates two units from LegalServices Section, the Finance section, theOrganisation section and a small Personnelfunction. The Board expects that the newpremises, which is being built at present, will becompleted by January 2002.
The future
The Board considers that the future provision oflegal services will be based on effectivepartnership with both the Law Society and the BarCouncil. The services of barristers are providedunder a revised agreement with the Bar Councilwhich was recently further amended to includeservices before Refugee Appeal Tribunals. The pastfive years have also seen a greater involvement ofprivate solicitors in the provision of legal services.
The Board is committed to the service beingprovided primarily through the law centre networkbut recognises the need to involve privatepractitioners. The private practitioner scheme inthe District Court is now in operation nationwideand a pilot project for the use of solicitors inprivate practice in divorce and judicial separationcases in the Circuit Court is currently underway.
The major expansion of the service commencedwith the last Government and the support has beencontinued by the current Minister for Justice,Equality and Law Reform. Continuous increases inthe Board’s grant-in-aid over the early period of thisBoard funded the continued expansion of the lawcentre network from sixteen law centres in 1993 toa nation-wide service of 30 law centres in 1997.
This Board has also been pleased to see theintroduction of a library and research facility. Thefirst librarian to the Board was appointed in thesummer of 2000. This facility will assist the Boardto meet its requirements under Section 5 (2) ofthe Act, to “disseminate, for the benefit of thosefor whom its services are made available,information in relation to those services and theiravailability”
As its term of office draws to a close the Board isfirmly of the view that all aspects of the changemanagement process must be continued. This isessential to ensure that an efficient cost effectiveprofessional service is available throughout thecountry on a timely basis.
CAPACITY OF THE BOARD TOMEET DEMAND FOR SERVICES
As already indicated, legal services are mainlyprovided by solicitors in the full-time employmentof the Board, working in law centres established bythe Board. In addition to the network of 30 full-time law centres, legal services are also providedthrough 13 part-time law centres which areserviced by staff of the Board.
There has been a significant increase in the grant-in-aid made available to the Board for expenditureon civil legal aid over the years. The grant-in-aid in1994 was just under £5 million and it wasincreased to just £13 million in 2000. The majorincrease in funding in recent years has facilitatedthe development of a nation-wide legal aid service.This increased funding allowed the Board to:
• increase the number of staff from a total of 122in 1994 to 256 (excluding the RLS) in 1999;
• upgrade the infrastructure of its law centres;and
• increase the number of law centres from 14 to30.
The additional staff approved in 1999 havecontributed to the overall reduction in waitingtimes at many of the Board’s law centres and inthe considerable decrease in the numbers awaitingservices. The number of persons awaiting a firstappointment with a solicitor has fallen from 2,900in December 1999 to 2,200 at the end ofDecember 2000. This represents a 24% decreasein the number of persons awaiting legal services atthe end of 2000.
However, because the demand for the service isstill greater than the Board’s capacity to meet it,the Board differentiates between priority cases andless urgent matters. In relation to those applicantsapplying for legal services, the Board operates aprocedure whereby priority is accorded for certaincategories of cases, for example, domesticviolence, child care, child abduction and caseswhere there are time limits. These cases are dealtwith immediately.
Solicitors also retain a residual discretion toprovide a priority service where, having regard tothe particular circumstances of the case, ascompared with other applications on the waitinglist, they consider it appropriate that a particularapplicant be given specific priority. In 2000, thetotal number of priority appointments offered bylaw centres was 1,545, or about 27% of the totalnumber of appointments offered to new clientsduring the year.
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Legal Aid Board
The Board’s private practitioner scheme in theDistrict Court was launched on a nation-wide basisin May 2000 to assist the Board in its efforts toprovide a service to all applicants within areasonable period of time. This scheme provides acomplementary legal service to that provided fromlaw centres for certain family law matters in theDistrict Court namely, domestic violence,maintenance and custody/access. Privatepractitioners are used in cases of geographicalremoteness, in conflict of interest cases and incases where the exigencies of the law centre serviceso require. Applicants are given the option of eithergoing to a private solicitor of their choice from thepanel of private practitioners, or of having theirnames added to the waiting list at the law centre.
The Board has also introduced a pilot project forone year for the involvement of private practitionersin the Circuit Court. The cases covered in the pilotproject include: judicial separation, divorce andDistrict Court Appeals where the case has beendealt with under the private practitioner scheme.This project will be systematically reviewed prior tothe scheme being set up on a permanent basis.
The nation-wide expansion of the privatepractitioner scheme in the District Court, togetherwith the extension of the scheme to the CircuitCourt, will reduce the waiting times for anappointment with a solicitor and will increase thethroughput of cases.
The Board is continually striving to reduce thelength of time applicants have to wait for legalservices. While there has been a significantimprovement in the waiting times in a number oflaw centres, the Board is concerned at the increasein waiting times in a small number of law centresand specific measures, including the appointment ofnew solicitors, are being put in place to correct this.
In addition, a review of the practices andprocedures in law centres is currently taking placeto seek to improve efficiency, cost effectiveness andstandardisation of administrative and professionalprocedures in law centres. The Board considers thatthis review will result in the provision of services toa greater number of persons.
The Board has two primary objectives, inaccordance with the provisions of the Act and itsMission Statement, namely:
• to provide a cost effective and professionalservice, in a timely manner, to the greatestnumber of persons possible, within theresources available to the Board; and
• to provide information on the Board’s services.
In relation to the dissemination of information, theBoard launched a number of leaflets in June 2000highlighting the range of services it provides. Theseries of nine leaflets provide general information,in non-legalistic language, on the range of familylaw remedies which are currently available. Theleaflets are available at the Board’s law centres aswell as court offices and Citizen InformationCentres throughout the country. The Board plans topublish further leaflets in late 2001 (see Appendix5 for details).
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Waiting time (months) for an appointmentwith a solicitor
Cavan 1.5 4 1.5
Ennis 7 4 5
Cork Area:
Popes Quay 18 6 0
South Mall 23.5 7 5
Letterkenny 5.5 3.5 3.5
Dublin Area:
Blanchardstown 2.5 2 5
Clondalkin 0 2.5 11.5
Finglas 6.5 5 10.5
Gardiner Street 10 13 10
Mount Street 9 2.5 5
Ormond Quay 5.5 11 7
Tallaght 18 4 10.5
Galway 29.5 4 5
Tralee 8 12 7
Newbridge 20 15 5
Kilkenny 2.5 6.5 5
Portlaoise 4 3.5 1
Limerick 8 4.5 3
Longford 1.5 2 1
Dundalk 8 6.5 4
Castlebar 0.5 1 1
Navan 3.5 4.5 2.5
Monaghan 2.5 3.5 2.5
Tullamore 4.5 5 1.5
Sligo 12 1.5 2.5
Nenagh 12.5 7 6
Waterford 0.5 1 3
Athlone 17 2 2
Wexford 3 10.5 7
Wicklow 22 12 3
LAW CENTRE Dec. 1998 Dec. 1999 Dec. 2000Months Months Months
Annual Report 2000
CASES DEALT WITH IN 2000
The total number of persons who receivedassistance from the Board through the law centresand the Refugee Legal Service in 2000 was almost18,000, which is an increase of 12% on the 1999figure of 16,000. The total number of persons whoreceived assistance through the law centres during2000 was 14,440, similar to 1999.
The number of persons provided with legal advicewas 9,400 as compared with the 1999 figure of9,300.
The number of persons provided with legal aid, i.e.representation in court, in 2000 was 5,000 ascompared with 5,150 in 1999. There was anincrease of 34% in the number of persons whowere represented in High Court proceedings, 229in 2000 compared to 171 in 1999. This aroseprimarily as a result of judicial review caseshandled by the RLS.
In 2000, the RLS provided legal services to over3,400 asylum seekers, an increase of 111% on the1999 figure of 1,600. The number of persons whoalso received legal aid for representation before theRefugee Appeals Tribunal was 2,200 in 2000compared to a figure of 1,000 in 1999.
Detailed statistics on the cases dealt with in 2000are contained in Appendix 2.
The following chart shows the number of personsprovided with legal services through law centresduring the past four years.
The chart shows the number of persons providedwith legal services through the RLS during the pasttwo years.
Family Law Cases
As in previous years, the vast majority of casesdealt with by law centres were in the family lawarea - about 96% of court cases and 80% of legaladvice cases. The following chart gives abreakdown of the various family law cases providedwith legal aid in law centres.
11
1997 1998 1999 2000
14,000
16,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Persons provided with legal aid and advicethrough law centres
1999 2000
3,500
4,000
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Persons provided with legal aid and advicethrough the Refugee legal service
1,400
Judi
cial
Sepa
ratio
n
Div
orce
Bar
ring
Safe
ty
Mai
nten
ance
Cust
ody
Acce
ss
Gua
rdia
nshi
p
Child
Car
e
Inju
nctio
n
Oth
er
Child
Abd
uctio
n
Nul
lity
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
2000
19981999
Family Law Cases - Law Centres
Legal Aid Board
Judicial Separation
There has been a slight decrease in the number ofpersons provided with legal aid for judicialseparation proceedings in 2000 as compared to1999, but these cases continue to constitute amajor element in the legal services provided by theBoard and account for over 23% of the totalcertificates granted in family law cases. The FamilyLaw Act, 1995, which incorporates the provisions ofthe Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act,1989, remains a very important piece of legislationfor persons who do not wish to institute divorceproceedings, or have not lived apart for four years,but who wish to separate and to avail of propertyadjustment orders, pension orders and otherancillary orders that may be made under the Act.
By the end of 2000, legal aid had been granted to9,727 persons in respect of judicial separationcases since the coming into operation of the JudicialSeparation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989. Thefollowing are the figures for the last five years:
Divorce
The number of persons who were provided withlegal aid for divorce proceedings in 2000 shows aslight decrease from the 1999 figure, but it stillaccounts for over 29% of the total certificatesgranted in family law cases. Divorce continued tohave a considerable impact on law centres and onthe waiting times for an appointment with asolicitor during 2000. The extension of the privatepractitioner scheme to the Circuit Court will assistin improving the waiting times for an appointmentwith a solicitor in divorce cases. Approximately25% of the persons on the waiting list at the end ofDecember 2000 were seeking legal aid for divorce.
By the end of 2000, legal aid had been granted to4,780 persons in respect of divorce cases sincethe coming into operation of the Family Law(Divorce) Act, 1996 on the 27 February 1997.
The following table shows the number grantedlegal aid for divorce over the last 4 years.
Divorce Survey
In its last Annual Report the Board indicated thatit proposed to undertake a survey of divorceproceedings.
This survey is underway at present and the Boardhas reviewed a sample of 150 cases to ascertainthe breakdown of cases between men and women;age profile of clients for divorce and an analysis ofthe extent of which the client has been involvedpreviously in family law issues. The followingtables set out the position:
12
JUDICIAL SEPARATION CASES
Year
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
1,252
1,211
1,019
1,043
990
Legal Aid Certificates Details of Client Gender ofClient
No.Issues
% ofTotal
Defend Proceedings
Institute Proceedings
Sub Total
Defend Proceedings
Institute Proceedings
Sub Total
Total
Female
Male
7%
72%
79%
7%
14%
21%
100%
10
109
119
10
21
31
150
Age Profile forWomen
No. of Certs.Issued
As a %of Total
20-30 years
30-40 years
40-50 years
50-60 years
Over 60 years
No age indicated
Total
7
54
34
17
1
6
119
6%
45%
29%
14%
1%
5%
100%
DIVORCE CASES
Year
1997
1998
1999
2000
938
1,316
1,307
1,219
Legal Aid Certificates
Annual Report 2000
USE OF PRIVATEPRACTITIONERS
The Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995, empowers the Boardto establish a panel of solicitors in private practiceto provide legal aid and advice. A panel has beenestablished to provide services for clients whorequire remedies in the District Court for domesticviolence, maintenance and/or custody/access issues.
The private practitioner scheme, which operated inthe Dublin area only, was extended nation-wide in2000. Outside Dublin, applicants may now contactlaw centres in the normal way. Managing solicitorswill determine whether the case is one that shouldbe handled within the law centre. In determiningwhether the case should be handed over to aprivate practitioner, the law centre will have regardto the Board’s obligation to provide a legal aidservice to the greatest number of persons possible.
This scheme is designed to:
• provide quicker access to legal aid services insituations where a law centre is not in a positionto provide a speedy service; and
• provide easier access to legal aid services forpersons who reside in areas which aregeographically remote from a law centre.
The following chart gives a breakdown of thevarious family law cases dealt with under theprivate practitioner scheme over the last threeyears.
13
450
400
350
500
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2000
19981999
Barring Safety Maintenance Custody Access Guardianship
Family Law Cases -Private Practitioners Scheme
Age Profile forMen
No. of Certs.Issued
As a %of Total
20-30 years
30-40 years
40-50 years
50-60 years
Over 60 years
No age indicated
Total
0
12
14
2
3
0
31
0%
39%
45%
6%
10%
0%
100%
Legal Status priorto obtaining LegalAid Certificate
No. Issued As a %of Total
No formal separationagreement or DistrictCourt Orders
District Court Orders
Separation AgreementsJudicial Separations and/or District Court Order
Total
71
37
42
150 100%
28%
25%
47%
Legal Aid Board
REFUGEE LEGAL SERVICE
The Refugee Legal Service (RLS) was set up inFebruary 1999 as a specialised office within theBoard to provide confidential and independentlegal services to persons applying for asylum inIreland. Legal advice is also provided inappropriate cases on immigration matters.
The year 2000 saw major developments in theRLS. The Government allocated substantialadditional resources to improve the rate at whichasylum cases were to be processed. As aconsequence, the Board sought and obtainedapproval for an increase in staff numbers to 140and the acquisition of additional officeaccommodation to enable it provide legal servicesto the anticipated increased number of asylumseekers. The Board plans to ensure that the fullcomplement of staff is in place by the end of2001. New accommodation was obtained inMontague Street, Dublin. A newly-built office blockin the Smithfield area of Dublin has also beenacquired by the Board and will be occupied in2001. Some staff continue to occupy a small partof Timberlay House, Lower Mount St, where newclients of the RLS are registered.
Dispersal / Decentralisation
Legal services are also provided to asylum seekersdispersed outside the Dublin area through localoffices and information leaflets. The Board hasopened offices in Galway and Cork to provideservices on a regional basis. Solicitors and para-legals in those officesprovide an outreachservice to asylumseekers in surroundingcounties by holdingregular clinics inhostels and in otherlocations.
The Board providesinformation on itsservices through theRefugee Legal Serviceinformation leaflets.These set out theservices provided bythe RLS, are availablein a number oflanguages directlyfrom the RLS, areprovided to all asylumseekers when an
application for asylum is made through the Officeof the Refugee Applications Commissioner and arealso made available to hostels for display on noticeboards.
Private Practitioner Scheme
To complement the services of the RLS and ensurethe capacity of the Board to provide a service toclients, a panel of solicitors in private practice wasset up in March 2000 to deal with RLS clientswho are at the appeal stage. This panel allows forthe contracting out of suitable cases from the RLS.Where practical, every effort is made to refer anasylum seeker outside of Dublin to a local solicitor.Negotiations with the Bar Council of Ireland, with aview to using the services of barristers in appealcases, have also been concluded and this schemecommenced operation in March 2001.
Number of asylum seekers provided withservice
The number of new clients who registered with theRLS in 2000 was 3,424. Of these, approximately50% applied for and received legal aid on firstapplying for service. The remaining 50% registeredin order to avail of legal advice, but it is estimatedthat approximately 30% of these subsequentlyavailed of legal aid at appeal and/or deportationstages.
14
From left: Margaret Lawlor, Liz Murphy, Mr. John O’Donoghue T.D., Minister forJustice, Equality and Law Reform,
Niall Murphy (Managing Solicitor), Angela Claffey, Claire Moran
Annual Report 2000
LAW SOCIETY REPORT -BOARD’S RESPONSE
In 2000 the Law Society published a report oncivil legal aid in Ireland. The Board welcomed thereport as an important contribution to the debateon the future development of civil legal aidservices in this country and wishes to take thisopportunity to respond to some of the issues raisedin the report.
Access to the Service
The concerns expressed by the Law Society inrelation to access to the legal aid service dovetailwith the objective of the Board of providing aquality service to persons of modest means. In thisregard, the Board, having engaged in afundamental review of the delivery of its serviceand the development of its internal capabilities, isplacing an increasing emphasis on service to thecustomer.
The Board aims to provide a comprehensive,accessible and professional legal aid service withina reasonable period of time.
While the demand for the Board’s servicescontinues to exceed the capacity of the Board tomeet the demand, the position in relation towaiting periods is improving. In addition, asreferred to on page 9 of this report, the Boardoperates a procedure to deal with cases on apriority basis. Priority is accorded for certaincategories of cases over other cases, e.g. domesticviolence, child care, child abduction and caseswhere there are time limits. The effect of dealingwith cases on a priority basis is that solicitors arenot in a position to deal with other cases on thewaiting list.
During 1999, about 3,500 persons receivedpriority legal services without any waiting period.In addition, the waiting times for an appointmentwith a solicitor continue to fall. At the end ofOctober 2000 the waiting period at nineteen lawcentres was less than 4 months; was between 4and 9 months at nine law centres and was 10months at the remaining two law centres. Theactual numbers on the waiting list were reduced tojust over 2,000 at the end of October 2000 ascompared with over 2,500 last May and over3,500 in May 1999.
The policy of the Board is to continue to use thelaw centres as the primary model for the delivery of
legal aid services. While the Board has extendedthe existing private practitioners scheme in theDistrict Court on a nation-wide basis, it has alsoextended the use of private practitioners to theCircuit Court on a pilot basis. The Board looksforward to co-operating with the Law Society onthe use of private practitioners, with a view toproviding legal services within a reasonable periodof time and to increase access to the service byusing private practitioners to compliment the lawcentre service.
Refugee Legal Service
The Refugee Legal Service provides acomprehensive and quality legal service to asylumseekers at all stages of the asylum process.Contrary to statements by the Law Society, legalaid is in fact available to persons served withdeportation orders and this has been the casesince shortly after the service was fully operationalin May 1999. Furthermore, legal aid has beengranted to take judicial review applications in theHigh Court in 77 cases.
In relation to the employment of law clerks in theRefugee Legal Service, the Board is surprised atthe comments of the Law Society on their use inthis particular service only. In common with manylaw firms, the Board has been using law clerks toassist solicitors with the provision of legal servicesin its 30 law centres for a number of years. Astructured system for law clerks/legal clerks is inplace which ensures that law clerks/legal clerks areworking under the supervision and direction ofsolicitors and are fully familiar with the asylumprocess.
It is noted that some other jurisdictions do notrequire qualified lawyers to be exclusively thepersons who render assistance to asylum seekers inpresenting the facts of their case. In fact inEngland it is not necessary for an advocate to be apractising solicitor in order to have rights ofaudience before the Immigration Tribunal. It issimilarly the case in this country that persons withno practising certificates have the right ofaudience before the Appeal Authority and thatoffices of private practitioners engage persons thatdo not have practising certificates for cases beforethe Appeals Authority. The Board, however,provides representation by a solicitor or Barrister athearings before a Refugee Appeal Tribunal.
15
Legal Aid Board
Future of Legal Services
A key strategic objective of the Board under theCorporate Plan is the preparation of a submissionby the Board to the Minister of Justice, Equalityand Law Reform setting out its views on the futureof civil legal aid services. The views and opinionsexpressed by the Law Society on the extension oflegal aid services will provide material forconsideration by the Board in relation to thedirection in which legal services should developover the coming years.
Quality Services
The Board welcomes the acknowledgement in thereport that “the skill and dedication of law centresolicitors is generally acknowledged within thelegal profession to be very high” and that “the lawcentres have developed a recognised expertise inthe area of family law”. The Board’s ProfessionalProcedures Work Group is, however, currentlyworking on arrangements for the development of asystem for the objective assessment of the qualityof the service being provided to clients and hasrecently commenced a client survey to assess theirviews. In addition, the Board has finalised aCustomer Service Action Plan. It is also planningto publish a revised formal complaints procedurein the near future, which will replace the existingcomplaints system that has operated since 1980.
As part of its information service, the Board haslaunched a series of leaflets on the family lawservices being provided by its centres as a start ofan external communications programme aimed atplacing particular emphasis on the service to itsclients.
Conclusion
In common with the interest of the Law Society,the Board, law centre solicitors and staff arecommitted to the provision of a professional qualityservice within a reasonable period of time inaccordance with the provisions of the Civil LegalAid Act, 1995 and Regulations.
SUMMARY ACCOUNT OF ASELECTION OF LEGALLY AIDEDCASES
Child abduction
This case was brought by the father of two childrenunder the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspectsof International Child Abduction which wasincorporated into Irish law by the Child Abductionand Enforcement of Custody Orders Act, 1991.The purpose of the Convention is to facilitate thespeedy return of children to the jurisdiction fromwhich they have been wrongfully removed or towhich, by reason of the wrongful retention, theywere not being returned.
The Plaintiff (father) and Defendant (mother) weremarried and had two children. They were livingapart from each other and the mother was in a newrelationship. The mother had custody of thechildren and the father had rights of custody. Thefather was serving a prison sentence and hadaccess to the children when they visited him inprison either fortnightly or monthly, with thepaternal grandparents. The father had obtained acourt order prohibiting removal of the children fromEngland, pending further order of the court. Themother had applied to the English court for anorder permitting her to bring the children toIreland, but did not pursue the application. InNovember 1999, the mother brought the childrento Ireland, without informing the father, and inbreach of the English court order.
Proceedings were issued by the father under theHague Convention and both parties were grantedlegal aid.
The High Court ordered the return of the children toEngland in the care of their paternal grandparentssubject to certain undertakings and pending theoutcome of court proceedings in England.
In accordance with the provisions of the Civil LegalAid Act, 1995, the mother was granted legal aid toappeal the High Court’s decision and the fatherwas granted legal aid to defend the appeal.
In the Supreme Court, it was submitted on behalfof the mother that the removal of the children wasnot in breach of the father’s “rights of custody” asdefined in Article 5 of the Convention.Furthermore, it was submitted that the remediesavailable to the father arose only under Article 21of the Convention, which is the appropriate
16
Annual Report 2000
machinery for enforcing access rights, and,accordingly, the removal of the children was not awrongful removal. It was also argued that the Courtshould not return the children to England, as thiswould place the children in an intolerablesituation. Counsel for the mother also submittedthat if the children were to be returned to England,they should be returned in the care of their motherwho was willing to undertake to accompany them.
It was submitted on behalf of the father that, as amarried father, he had joint parental responsibilityand that he had exercised a power to determine thechildren’s place of residence by obtaining an orderfrom an English court. With regard to his exercise ofrights of custody, it was submitted that in seeingthe children frequently while in prison he wasexercising his rights of custody insofar as he could.It was also submitted that the burden ofestablishing that there was a grave risk that thechildren would be placed in an intolerable situationif they returned to England lay with the mother.
The Supreme Court concluded that the fatherpossessed, jointly with the mother, rights ofresponsibility for the children under the EnglishChildren Act, 1989. Judge McGuinness did notaccept that the clear position of the father inEnglish law could be nullified by the fact that, dueto his imprisonment, he was not at that timeplaying a large part in the physical day-to-day careof the children. She was of the opinion that thisfact alone could not deprive the father of a legallyestablished right of custody. Judge McGuinnesswas also of the opinion that it was clear that thefather was exercising his right to see the childrenand maintain his relationship with them
It was also held that the mother had notsufficiently established that there was a grave riskthat the children would be placed in an intolerablesituation if they were accompanied by the motherin their return to England and if they remained inher care pending a decision of the English court.
The mother gave an undertaking to the Court thatshe was willing to return the children to Englandand to care for them there.
Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed and the Courtordered the return of the two children to England.
Nullity proceedings
A husband and wife were married in December1987. They had one child who was born inSeptember 1989. The husband commenced
proceedings for judicial separation in the CircuitCourt in May 1995 and commenced nullityproceedings in January 1996. Legal aid wasgranted to the wife to defend both proceedings.
The husband submitted that, because his wife’sinfidelity prior to the marriage had been concealedfrom him, he had never been in a position to give aninformed consent to the marriage, and for thisreason, the marriage was invalid. The High Courtheld that the non-disclosure of inappropriatebehaviour prior to or during the courtship was not aground for nullity and refused the petition on thebasis that the husband had failed to satisfy the Courtthat his consent was not full, free and informed.
The husband appealed the High Court decision tothe Supreme Court and the wife was granted legalaid to defend the appeal. The High Court refused tomake an order for costs and the wife cross-appealedon the issue of costs to the Supreme Court.
It was submitted on behalf of the husband that thewife had been involved in a sexual relationshipwith another man in the period before the marriageand even during the engagement. The husband’sposition was that he had been completely unawareof this and, had he known this, he would not havemarried her. Counsel argued that the husband hadbeen deprived of information in regard to a matterof importance which was highly relevant to hisdecision to marry. His consent was, therefore, notan informed consent and the marriage wasconsequently void.
It was submitted on behalf of the wife that thehusband was seeking a decree of nullity on aground of misrepresentation by silence. Counselsubmitted that, historically, mistake,misrepresentation and fraud had never beengrounds for nullity save in the narrowest ofcircumstances which did not extend to the area ofmisconduct. It was also submitted that partieswere entitled to know if they were validly married;they must enjoy a legitimate expectation that theinstitution of marriage would be protected. The lawshould not produce uncertainty in marriage, andnullity should not be granted on a ground so wideas to be incapable of proper definition. It wasargued that the remedy for voluntary misconductwas divorce, not nullity.
The Supreme Court looked at various courtjudgements when considering the issue of“informed” consent. Judge McGuinness found thatwhere “informed” was used in the other judgmentsit was used in the sense of being informed aboutthe alternatives to marriage available to the young
17
Legal Aid Board
girls in question and not to information about thecharacter or conduct of the respondent. JudgeMcGuinness found that nullity could not beextended to cover concealed misconduct and otherforms of misrepresentation. The courts had alwaysstressed the necessity of certainty in marriagewhich was reinforced in the Constitution. Theintroduction of a ground for nullity in respect ofmisconduct, which, taken to its logical conclusion,could bring uncertainty into a wide variety ofmarriages was not only undesirable as a matter ofpublic policy, but was contrary to the clearintention of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal andaccordingly, the Order of the High Court wasaffirmed. The Supreme Court was obviouslyconcerned to limit the availability of nullity toexceptional cases for reason of public policy and,in the event of marital breakdown, to encourageuse of the more appropriate remedies of judicialseparation and divorce instead.
In relation to the wife’s cross-appeal on the issueof costs, Judge McGuinness held that she wouldnot interfere with the High Court judge’s exerciseof his discretion in refusing to make any order asto costs. The Supreme Court dismissed the cross-appeal and the Order of the High Court wasaffirmed.
Judicial review proceedings – child care
Legal aid was granted to a person to institutejudicial review proceedings against a Health Board,for allowing the applicant’s child to be placed inthe care of her father when it was known that hewas going to take her outside the jurisdiction.
The legally-aided person was separated from herhusband by whom she had four children. Thehusband lived in Northern Ireland and had soughta Residence Order in respect of all four children.He obtained a permanent Residence Order inrespect of the three older children who were livingwith him. The youngest child resided with hermother in Ireland. The Residence Orderproceedings were adjourned to determine thejurisdiction in relation to the applicationconcerning the youngest child.
In June 2000, the child was removed from hermother’s care into the care of the health board.The mother was told by telephone on the day ofthe Emergency Care Order hearing that she couldnot remove the child from the hospital where shewas temporarily staying as the health board was
applying on that day to have an Emergency CareOrder made.
An Emergency Care Order was then made inrespect of the youngest child on the hearing date.It provided that she should be placed in the careof the health board for a period not exceedingeight days. The Order further provided that thehealth board should be allowed to place the childwith her father in the jurisdiction of NorthernIreland. The child was subsequently handed intothe care of her father who brought her to NorthernIreland immediately.
The mother sought, by way of judicial review, anumber of orders including an order quashing thepurported Emergency Care Order because of thehealth board’s failure to comply with Section 12(4) of the Child Care Act, 1991. This sectionprovides that the health board must make anapplication for an Emergency Care Order to theDistrict Court within three days of a child beingdelivered up to the custody of the health board
It was submitted on behalf of the health boardthat, if the High Court took the view that theapplication for an Emergency Care Order was notbrought within the requisite time period underSection 12 (4), it would be accepted that certainconsequences would arise from this. Counsel forthe health board also stated that it might bepossible to shorten the proceedings if that issuewas decided upon. The High Court found againstthe health board on that particular issue.
The High Court ordered that the Order of theDistrict Court in respect of the child was ultra viresthe provisions of the Child Care Act, 1991 andthereby unlawful. The health board was alsoordered to pay the costs of these proceedings.
Judicial review proceedings – domesticviolence
Legal aid was granted to a person to institutejudicial review proceedings against a decision ofthe District Court in respect of his refusal to hear asafety order application.
The legally-aided person was granted legal aid toapply for a safety order in the District Court. Thejudge was informed that the client had obtained adecree of judicial separation three years previouslyagainst the same respondent in the Circuit Court,but that no relief was sought or granted in thejudicial separation proceedings under the DomesticViolence Act, 1996. The Judge declined to hear
18
Annual Report 2000
the application on the grounds that the applicationshould be dealt with by the Circuit Court becauseof the earlier judicial separation proceedings inthat court.
The client sought, by way of judicial review:
• an order directing the District Court to hear anddetermine the applicant’s proceedings for asafety order brought pursuant to the DomesticViolence Act, 1996; and
• a declaration that the applicant is entitled toprosecute her proceedings seeking a safety orderpursuant to Section 2(2) of the DomesticViolence Act, 1996 in the District Court.
The judicial review proceedings were uncontestedand the orders sought by the client were grantedby the High Court.
The difficulty faced by nonparent/guardians of children not coveredby the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964.
At the commencement of the relationship betweenthe parties, the wife was already pregnant byanother man. The parties had resided in Englanduntil April 1997 and then moved to Ireland. Theyhad two children together and after the secondchild was born they got married. Difficultiesexisted throughout their relationship which causedconcern for the local authorities while they residedin England and also for the health board when theycame to reside in Ireland.
In August 1999, the wife returned to England withthe three children. An application was made by thehusband, under the Hague Convention, for thereturn of the children to the Ireland. At the hearingthe mother agreed to return all three children toIreland in her care. The three children were returnedto Ireland at the end of October 1999 without theirmother. The children were placed in emergency careon their return to Ireland and in November 1999were placed in the care of the husband.
The husband was subsequently granted legal aid toinstitute proceedings under Section 11 of theGuardianship of Infants Act 1964, seeking anorder of custody in respect of all three children.Although it was clear that he could issue custodyproceedings in relation to the two younger children,the issue arose as to whether he had the right toissue proceedings in relation to the eldest child,without being the child’s father or guardian. Thewife was also granted legal aid to defend theguardianship proceedings.
When the matter came before the District Court, itwas argued on behalf of the wife that the Courthad no jurisdiction to deal with the issue ofcustody in relation to the eldest child, as theGuardianship of Infants Act, 1964, did not allowthe husband to institute such proceedings.
It was submitted, inter alia, on behalf of the fatherthat:
• the District Court had jurisdiction, pursuant tothe Courts Act 1981, to deal with all mattersunder the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964;and
• there were circumstances when the court couldinvoke its own jurisdiction to grant custody to anon-guardian/custodian and once a summonswas before the court, the court, pursuant to theConstitution, was obliged to vindicate the rightsof a child if called upon to do so.
The Court stated that it had a duty, obligation andjurisdiction to make a decision in respect of theeldest child, if it was satisfied that the child’sconstitutional rights required vindication. TheCourt however, had to be satisfied that the matterwas of such a serious and exceptional nature thatnot to do so would seriously endanger the child’sphysical well being.
The matter was adjourned for the production ofevidence in order to show that it was appropriatefor the court to invoke its inherent jurisdiction andto make an order of custody in relation to theeldest child. The evidence included calling aswitnesses the parties to the proceedings, a childpsychologist, a psychiatrist and a social worker.
Having heard the evidence, the Court decided thatthere was not sufficient evidence to support thecontention that the circumstances were of such aserious and exceptional nature that it wouldseriously endanger the child’s physical being, if anorder was not made. Accordingly, the Court refusedthe husband’s application for custody of the eldestchild.
Child care proceedings – Health Boardplacing a child outside the State.
A legal aid certificate was granted to a person todefend proceedings in the District Court taken by ahealth board under Section 47 of the Child CareAct 1991. The applicant was seeking the Court’sdirections on questions affecting the welfare of achild in the care of the health board. Theparticular directions sought were whether it would
19
Legal Aid Board
be in the child’s best interests to be placed infoster care with a relative in the United Kingdom.At the hearing, the District Court soughtsubmissions from the legal representatives of theparent and the health board and considered thatthe obtaining of a determination of the High Courtin relation to certain matters relevant to theapplication would be desirable. The parent wasgranted a legal aid certificate for the case beforethe High Court.
The questions of law for determination by the HighCourt were as follows:
In relation to a child who is in the care of a healthboard pursuant to Section 18 of the Child Care Act1991:
• Can the health board place the child withrelatives or foster parents outside the Statepursuant to the provisions of Section 36 of thesaid Act?
• Can this Court lawfully direct the placement of achild with relatives or foster parents outside theState pursuant to the provisions of Section 47 ofthe said Act?
• If the answer to either of the above is “Yes”, canthe period for which the child is so placed belimited?
In considering the first question, the High Courtcame to the conclusion that the Child Care Act,1991, requires a health board to maintain controland supervision of children in its care. Placing achild with foster parents requires a health board tocontinue to exercise control and supervision. TheAct makes it clear that the health board has anoverriding obligation to control and supervise andthat that could only effectively be done if suchplacement is within the State. The answer to thefirst question was “No”.
In relation to the second question, it was statedthat the District Court exercises more than asupervisory jurisdiction. Unlike Section 36 of the1991 Act, Section 47 of that Act has noqualification requiring control and supervision andthere was no reason to suggest that a restrictiveinterpretation of Section 47 is appropriate. Section47 empowers the District Court to do whatever itdeems appropriate to achieve the policy of the Actas a whole. Consequently, the answer to the secondquestion is “Yes”.
As regards the third question, the High Court foundthat there is no limitation on the exercise by theDistrict Court of its powers. Accordingly, the
District Court can lawfully direct the placement ofa child with relatives or foster parents outside theState pursuant to the provisions of Section 47 ofthe Act, with or without the period for which thechild is so placed being limited.
The matter is at present under appeal to theSupreme Court.
Declaration of parentage proceedings
Legal aid was granted to a person to instituteproceedings pursuant to Part 6 of the Status ofChildren Act, 1987 seeking a declarationestablishing the identity of her child’s naturalfather so that his name could be placed on thechild’s birth certificate.
The client was involved in a road traffic accidentwith her boyfriend as a result of which herboyfriend was killed. Subsequently, she discoveredthat she was pregnant and she gave birth to a babyboy approximately eight months later. When theclient went to register the birth, the local Registrarof Births, Deaths and Marriages would not registerher deceased boyfriend as father of the child as, inthese particular circumstances, they had noconsent signed by the father or court orderestablishing his paternity.
In conjunction with the legal aid certificate,authority was also granted by the Board to obtainDNA testing for the purpose of establishingpaternity. The best evidence to furnish to the courtas proof of parentage was a DNA test but thisposed a difficulty as one of the parties was dead.
However, enquiries were made of the hospitalwhere the deceased was taken following theaccident as to whether any blood or tissue samplesfrom the deceased were still retained. After it wassatisfied with the verification process, the hospitalindicated that it still had a tissue sample preservedand the father of the deceased consented to theuse of the sample for the purpose of DNA testing.
The result of the DNA test was that, in allprobability, the deceased was indeed the father. Atthe hearing of the matter, the Circuit Courtaccepted the evidence from the DNA test andgranted the mother a declaration that the deceasedwas the father of her son. Following thisdeclaration, the Registrar General of Births, Deathsand Marriages agreed that the name of the fathercould be entered on the Register and that thesurname of the child could be that of his deceasedfather. The mother subsequently attended at thelocal Registry for the registration of the details of
20
her child, which set out the surname of the childas that of his deceased father.
Eastern European asylum seeker
A person applied for refugee status on the groundsof religious persecution. He was a Jehovah’s Witnessand therefore had conscientious objections tocarrying out military service in his country of origin.
His application was refused at first instancebecause the Refugee Applications Commissionerwas of the view that the client could have carriedout alternative military service.
He was granted legal aid to appeal the decision.Country of origin information was submitted whichshowed that there was an alternative to militaryservice but that it was for twice the period ofordinary military service. Country information alsorevealed that a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses hadbeen imprisoned for refusing to carry out militaryservice. The legally-aided person stated that healso had conscientious objections to carrying outalternative military service, on the grounds that thealternatives available were all run under theauspices of the military.
The Appeals Authority accepted that the asylumseeker was a genuine conscientious objector, buttook the view that there were valid alternatives tomilitary service in his country of origin. The appealwas refused.
An asylum seeker from Western Africa.
This person was a national from a West Africancountry. He left the country in 1999 and arrived inIreland by ship a few weeks later. He applied forrefugee status on the grounds that he had sufferedpersecution in his country, on account of politicalopinions and his membership of a cult movement.He stated that the movement, which wascomprised of mainly university students, sought tohighlight the oppressive practices of thegovernment. He stated that he had beensuspended and subsequently expelled from theuniversity for his activities in the organisation, andthat he was later arrested and detained by policeand violently assaulted by them during the courseof that detention. He stated that he wassubsequently moved to a low-security prison fromwhich he ultimately succeeded in escaping.
The application was refused at first instance,principally on the grounds that it was concludedthat his main reason for coming to Ireland was tofurther his education, that he could have safelymoved to another part of the country and that hiscredibility was at issue in any event.
He was granted legal aid to appeal against therefusal decision. At the appeal hearing, he gaveevidence of the persecution that he said he hadexperienced. The Refugee Appeals Tribunaldecided however, to uphold the original decisionand refuse the appeal. The Tribunal noted that theasylum seeker had offered no evidence as to hisidentity or membership of the movement. Theindependent objective evidence indicated that theorganisation was a cult. By being a member ofsuch a cult, the asylum seeker had committed anoffence in the country which he had fled. TheTribunal concluded however, that he could havemoved to another part of the country. The Tribunalaccordingly concluded that the asylum seeker hadnot satisfied the criteria necessary for him to berecognised as being a refugee within the meaningof the law.
An asylum seeker from Western Africa.
The client was from a West African country. She hadcome to Ireland together with her two children. Shehad applied for refugee status in Ireland on thegrounds that, as a result of her husband’s and herbrother’s membership of a rebel group in hercountry, she had suffered persecution and would besubjected to further persecution including possibledeath, were she to return to that country. She statedthat she had learnt that her husband had been killedsince she had left the country, and that her parentshad previously been killed when government forcesattacked and destroyed their home.
The client’s application was refused at firstinstance, principally on the grounds that it wasconsidered that her credibility was in doubt and itwas believed that she was not a national of thecountry she claimed to be of, but of another WestAfrican country. Although the client had producedidentity documents, their veracity was consideredto be in doubt.
The client was granted legal aid to appeal againstthe decision to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Atthe appeal hearing, following the client’s oralevidence, a number of submissions were made bythe Refugee Legal Service on her behalf, drawingattention to an undue preoccupation withcredibility at first instance, and including reports
Annual Report 2000
21
Legal Aid Board
illustrating a deteriorating security and healthsituation in the country and the increasingviolation of human rights abuses by both rebelgroups and the pro-government forces. It wassubmitted on behalf of the Refugee ApplicationsCommissioner that the client’s credibility remainedin doubt whilst it was nevertheless acknowledgedthat the country was an unsafe place. In the event,the Tribunal Member found for the client andissued a decision declaring her to be a refugee.
An asylum seeker from a Western AfricanCountry
The asylum seeker was a national of a West Africancountry having left that country and travelled withthe assistance of an agent to Ireland in 1998. Hefled a climate of violence between two ethnicgroups which for him culminated in the murder ofhis entire family which murder he himselfwitnessed. He sought asylum on the grounds ofthat persecution and on the grounds that he wouldbe subjected to further such persecution were heto be forcibly returned to his country.
The application for refugee status was refused atfirst instance principally on the grounds that it wasconsidered that the asylum seeker’s stated fear ofpersecution was not well founded, that noindependent evidence had been offered tocorroborate the asylum seeker’s account of themurder of family members, that the asylum seekercould have availed of the protection of theauthorities in his country and that there were anumber of inconsistencies in his accounts leadingto doubts as to his credibility.
He was granted legal aid to appeal against thedecision to the former Appeals Authority. An expertreport was obtained and presented to the AppealsAuthority by the Refugee Legal Service. The reportsupported a claim of post-traumatic stress disorderbrought on by experiences including, the violentmurder of family members. Following the client’sown evidence, various submissions were made onhis behalf by the Refugee Legal Service, includingreports illustrating the ongoing ethnic and othertensions which continued to prevail in the WesternAfrican country. It was submitted on behalf of theDepartment that the political situation in thatcountry had improved and that the asylum seeker’sdifficulties could have been overcome by relocatingwithin the same country. The Appeals Authority,however recommended that the person ought to berecognised as a refugee and the Minister made adecision to that effect.
An asylum seeker from Eastern Europe
The person was from an Eastern European country.He applied for asylum on the grounds ofpersecution arising from his political activities andopinions. He had for many years been a member ofa political party, and participated in a number ofdemonstrations, and had previously been arrested,detained and assaulted as a result of suchactivities in the early 1990s. In or about 1998, hewas again arrested at an anti-governmentdemonstration. He was transferred to a psychiatrichospital from which he escaped and, with theassistance of friends and family, he fled thecountry and made his way to Ireland. He wasrefused refugee status at first instance.
He was granted legal aid to appeal against thedecision to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. He gaveevidence at his hearing that, if he were to return tohis country, he would again be arrested and mayeven disappear. Reports relating to the politicalsituation in his country indicated that freedom ofexpression was severally restricted and confirmedthat there were problems in relation to access tojustice in the country.
In its submissions, the Office of the RefugeeApplications Commissioner submitted inter aliathat the recent establishment of a human rightsoffice to educate the public generally andinvestigate complaints in relation to human rightsviolations in the country and the absence of anyreports of political disappearances, led one tobelieve the asylum seeker’s fear of persecution wasnot well founded.
The Tribunal Member found that the asylumseeker’s stated fear of persecution was not wellfounded, and that adequate protection wasavailable to him under the laws of that country.The Tribunal Member further concluded that theclient had fled the country to avoid a prosecutionin respect of which he would have been affordednatural justice and which he would have had theopportunity to defend and accordingly that that didnot amount to persecution. His appeal wasaccordingly refused.
22
Annual Report 2000
STAFF MATTERS ANDINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Staff resources
On 1 January 2000, the total number of staffsanctioned for the Legal Aid Board stood at 298,including staff sanctioned for the Refugee LegalService. During 2000 a further 112 posts weresanctioned for the Refugee Legal Service, bringingthe total approved numbers for the expandedservice to 140 posts. A major recruitment drive,which included holding a number of recruitmentcompetitions for solicitors, para-legal staff andadministrative staff was underway at the end of2000 in order to fill the additional authorisedposts, along with vacancies which existed at thattime, and further competitions have been held inthis regard in the early part of 2001.
The Board, in common with many other publicservice organisations, continues to encounterrecruitment difficulties at both administrative andsolicitor levels. The Board is pleased, however, withthe appointment by the Civil Service Commissionof a Liaison Officer to deal specifically with theBoard and to assist in meeting its needs insofar aspossible. It is also noted that the Civil ServiceCommission have taken a number of initiatives tospeed up the recruitment process which hasresulted in clerical officer staff being appointed tothe Board to fill vacancies much more speedilythan heretofore.
Unfortunately, however, there appears to be adiminishing number of trained typists, whichconstitute the majority of the Board’s needs atclerical level, applying for positions in the civilservice. The Board has, however, undertakentraining initiatives to counter this situation.
Cahirciveen
During 2000, the Board moved ahead with theprocess of transferring staff into the Board whowould be relocating to Cahirciveen. Staff within theBoard have the option to transfer to othergovernment departments. A number of staff havenot yet availed of this opportunity, and this hasfacilitated the Board’s plans to provide an overlapwith incoming staff for the purpose of training.
The process of acquiring a site, getting planningpermission, and preparing a building foroccupation is progressing and the Board
anticipates that the final relocation will take placein early 2002. As part of this process, the Boarddecided to open an interim office in Cahirciveen in2001 to facilitate the smooth transfer of its HeadOffice functions to Cahirciveen.
Solicitors’ pay claim
During 2000, management and the unionsrepresenting the solicitors in the Board engaged inintensive discussions in order to satisfactorilyfinalise the PCW pay claims which had beenoutstanding for a number of years.
The Board is pleased that these discussionsreached a satisfactory conclusion in October 2000,with agreement both on the pay element and onareas of flexibility and change in work practices.The agreement resulted in substantial payincreases for the majority of the solicitorsemployed by the Board, in return for which,agreement was reached on, inter alia, theincreased use of private practitioners and moreflexible working arrangements includingspecialisation.
The Board considers that the revised salary scalesfor solicitors should result in an easing of therecruitment difficulties at this level.
Strategic Management Initiative (SMI)
The latest national agreement, the Programme forProsperity and Fairness (PPF), contains a number ofspecific measures which are designed to ensurethat the broad objectives of the public servicemodernisation programme, under the StrategicManagement Initiative, can continue to be achievedby individual organisations. These measures coverorganisational flexibility, quality assurance,performance management, further development ofpartnership structures and a refocussing of humanresource management strategies.
During 2000, the Board took a number ofinitiatives, under an ongoing change managementprocess, to ensure that it can achieve theimprovements required of it over the lifetime of thePPF. In this connection, the Department of Justice,Equality and Law Reform, has developed a numberof performance indicators for organisations underthe Department’s aegis, against which progresswith implementing the modernisation programmecan be assessed. Details of progress in the Boardon some of the relevant areas are set out below.
23
Legal Aid Board
Organisational flexibility
In accordance with a commitment in the CorporatePlan 1999 - 2002, the Board has established acommittee representative of Head Officemanagement and managing solicitors with anexternal management consultant as chairperson toexamine the Board’s current management structureand to make any recommendations consideredappropriate. It is expected that the work of thegroup will be completed by autumn 2001.
Another group, representative of management andstaff in the Board, has also been establishedrecently to meet the commitment in the CorporatePlan to prepare a “submission by the Board to theMinister setting out its policy and views on thefuture of civil legal aid services”. The group will beexamining the issue of access to legal aid, thedelivery of services, including the systems andstructures through which legal aid is delivered. It isenvisaged that the work of the group will becompleted by the end of 2001.
As part of a programme of improved accountabilityin the public service, reviews of expenditure onvarious services are now carried out. The focus ofsuch reviews is to make recommendations on waysin which services might be delivered in a moreefficient manner. The Departments of Justice,Equality and Law Reform and Finance have carriedout a review of legal aid services and the report isexpected to be finished by summer 2001. TheBoard will, following consultations throughout theorganisation, draw up a comprehensive response tothe report.
Quality assurance
The Board has developed a Customer ServiceAction Plan for 2001 - 2004. This sets out thestandards of care that our customers can expect intheir dealings with the Board. The Plan alsorecognises that internal customers (i.e. staff of theBoard) are entitled to receive the same standard ofcare which applies to external customers.
The professional procedures workgroup, establishedas part of the strategic management process in theBoard, is also examining the issue of quality in thedelivery of a professional legal service. It isenvisaged that the group will produce “bestpractice” guidelines designed to enhance thequality of the services provided by the Board.
Performance Management and DevelopmentSystem
In common with other government departmentsand offices, the Board is in the process ofintroducing a Performance Management andDevelopment System for all staff, which willinvolve a new approach to managing staff and willenable staff to contribute more effectively to theorganisation.
The Board is currently developing business plansfor each area of its operations. These plans aredetailed work programmes which translate the highlevel goals and objectives in the Board’s CorporatePlan into more detailed work programmes whichwill inform the day-to-day activities of work unitsand staff. The performance management anddevelopment system is intended to provide clarityon what has to be achieved, how it is to beachieved and to assist staff in pursuing their workand career aspirations. A key emphasis in the newsystem is the provision of appropriate training anddevelopment opportunities for staff. Theintroduction of the new system will involve fivedays’ training for all staff. In this regard, anexternal training company will be engaged toprovide this training to all staff throughout 2001.
Partnership
The Partnership process in the Board continued toevolve and develop during 2000, with newinitiatives being undertaken and further trainingbeing provided to the group on the new approachto be adopted at Partnership, in particular, thearea of consensus decision making. The StaffDevelopment and Communication Work Groups,established under the Strategic ManagementInitiative, now report to the Partnership Committeeon their on-going work programmes. Amongst thekey tasks being overseen by the PartnershipCommittee, are the roll-out of the PerformanceManagement and Development System for all staffand the development of the Board’s CustomerService Action Plan. The Partnership Committeehas recently initiated a review of their role andfunction and this will be completed during 2001.
Human resources management strategy
The development of a comprehensive humanresources management policy is a key high levelobjective of the Board’s Corporate Plan 1999 -2002. A number of initiatives have already beentaken in furtherance of this objective in the human
24
Annual Report 2000
25
resources management area of the Board. Theseinclude, amongst other things, (i) the completionof two training needs analyses, the consequentintroduction of new training initiatives and thesignificant enhancement of the resources devotedto training and development in the Board, and (ii)the implementation of most of therecommendations of a Report on EmployeeRelations in the Board which was prepared by anexternal consultant.
The Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF)specifies that sustaining and improving efficiencywill require increasingly innovative and flexiblehuman resource management policies andstrategies. Accordingly, the Board intends tofurther develop its human resources managementstrategy during 2001 by building on initiativesalready undertaken and addressing, in acomprehensive way, all aspects of HRM policy inthe Board. It is intended that the PartnershipCommittee will have a major input into this task.
Staff development
During 2000 a programme of personaldevelopment training was run for staff of theBoard, in conjunction with an external trainingprovider. Staff turnover also necessitated theallocation of resources to induction training. Theintroduction of new computer systems resulted infurther requirements for training in the IT areawhich were addressed during the year.
In the area of third-level education, an increasingnumber of staff have undertaken courses,particularly in the areas of public administrationand law. The Board has continued to refund in fullthe costs incurred, where the course content isrelevant to the work of the Board.
Equality of opportunity
The Board is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Allapplicants for employment are given full and fairconsideration, due regard being had to the aptitudeand ability of the individual and the requirementsand eligibility criteria for the position. All personsare treated on equal terms as regards careerdevelopment, promotion and training. The Boardoperates within the terms of the EmploymentEquality Act, 1998. During 2000, the Boarddecided to designate an officer serving inPersonnel Section as the Board’s Equality Officer.
Health and safety
During the year 2000, the Board continued tomaintain a proactive approach to its Health andSafety policies and its obligations under the Safety,Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989.
The interaction between staff and persons applyingfor and/or in receipt of legal services is beingreviewed and it is expected that this will result inthe preparation by the Professional ProceduresWorkgroup of guidelines for staff safety and welfarein 2001. A number of recommendations made inthis report have already been implemented in lawcentres. In addition, the security enhancementprogramme in the Board’s premises, which beganin 1999, continued in 2000.
The Board will continue to ensure that is staff workin a safe and secure environment.
Legal Aid Board
26
FINANCE
The Board's draft financial statements for 2000, areshown at Appendix 1. The financial statements willbe presented to the Minister for Justice, Equalityand Law Reform who will cause copies to be laidbefore each House of the Oireachtas, in accordancewith the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995.
Income
The following are some comments on the sourcesof the Board’s income.
(a) Grant-in-AidAs in previous years, the bulk of the Board'sincome (88%) consists of a grant-in-aidreceived from the Department of Justice,Equality and Law Reform. There was a furtherincrease in the funding provided by theGovernment in 2000. The grant, whichincreased by over 24% in 1999, wasincreased by a further 8% in 2000 to£12.899 million. This level of funding wasnecessary to cover the full year cost ofdevelopments carried out in previous yearsand also the annual cost of the additionalstaff sanctioned in 1999.
(b) Refugee Legal ServiceFunding of just over £1 million was also madeavailable by the Oireachtas to enable theBoard to operate a specialised Refugee LegalService. This level of funding was necessaryto meet the full year cost of providing aservice to asylum seekers.
(c) ContributionsPersons who are provided with legal servicespay a contribution related to their incomeand, in a minority of cases, their capitalresources. Some 80% of persons pay theminimum contribution, i.e. £4 for legal adviceand £23 for representation in court. Thisminimum contribution can be waived in casesof hardship. Receipts from contributionsincreased by 7% in 2000.
(d) Recovery of costsThe Board may recover the cost of providinglegal services from: -
(i) the other party to a dispute either as aresult of a court order or as part of anagreement to settle a dispute; or
(ii) from the legally-aided person out ofmonies /property received by the personas a result of the provision of legalservices.
The amount of costs recovered can vary significantlyfrom year to year especially if a legally-aided personobtains an award for costs in a case in which theother party is in a position to meet the costs. Thisdoes not generally arise in family law cases, whichform the bulk of the Board’s case load.
The level of costs recovered in 1999 was 80%higher than in the previous year. It was reasonableto expect that 2000 would see a reduction in thisfigure and indeed the costs received were 7% lessin 2000 than in 1999. Three cases in 2000accounted for almost £110,000 of the total costsrecovered for the year.
Expenditure
The following chart shows a breakdown of expenditure by the Board over the past three years.
4.5
5.0
5.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0Salaries &Board Fees
Counsels’Fees
Legal &Professional
Fees
Rent,Maintenance,
Insurance
RunningCosts
199719981999
£ M
illio
ns
Annual Report 2000
27
It should be noted that the above figure for theyear 2000 includes funding and expenditure forthe RLS (which were not included in the 1999figures). The RLS funding and expenditure wasshown as a separate heading in the 1999 annualaccounts.
The following are comments on the major items ofexpenditure shown in the 2000 financialstatements: -
(a) SalariesThe increase of about £762,000(approximately 13%) in expenditure onemployee costs in 2000 is accounted for bythe inclusion of the Refugee Legal Servicestaff in the figures for 2000, standardincreases arising from annual increments,national wage agreements and arrears onrestructuring agreements under PCW whichwas concluded in 2000. It also includes thecost of engaging a number of temporarycontract solicitors and clerical support staff tocover for absences such as maternity leave,sick leave etc. Note 4 to the accounts givesparticulars of employee numbers and costsand shows that the Board had 410 sanctionedposts at 31 December 2000 including RLSstaff.
(b) MaintenanceIn addition to the costs incurred in theupkeep of 31 premises around the country,the Board incurred costs in the fit-out ofrelocated premises and the refurbishment
of existing centres. This expenditure formsthe bulk of the costs charged to thisheading.
(c) Legal fees and expensesThere are a number of differing elementscovered in this heading - see Note 6 to theaccounts - and comment is provided on eachof the various headings comprising the totalas follows: -
(i) Counsel feesExpenditure on counsel fees was similar tolast year, in line with the number ofcertificates granted for proceedings in theCircuit and High Courts. The following tableshows counsel fees and the number of casesin which legal aid certificates were grantedin the Circuit and High Courts over the pastsix years.
The following chart shows the relationship between Oireachtas funding and the actual expenditure over thelast ten years.
9
10
12
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
£ M
illio
ns
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
Grant-in-Aid
Expenditure
COUNSEL’S FEES
Year
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
1,842
1,883
2,839
2,862
2,897
2,774
584,000
685,000
1,007,000
1,079,000
1,593,000
1,572,000
Circuit &High CourtCertificates
Counsels’ fees£
(ii) Legal fees - expensesLegal fees are the fees incurred by the Boardin providing a civil legal aid and adviceservice to members of the public. Theyinclude, in particular, expenditure on expert,professional and lay witnesses who areengaged in legally aided cases.
(iii) Private practitioners schemeExpenditure in 2000 on the PrivatePractitioner Scheme was £178,000 ascompared with £109,000 in 1999. This arosein part from the extension of the scheme on anation-wide basis in 2000.
(iv) Other professional feesMost of the costs under this heading relate tothe engagement by the Board of professionalsto assist in the acquisition and fit-out of newpremises and also for the provision ofindependent legal advice to the Board.
(v) Other expensesSolicitors employed by the Legal Aid Boardmust have a practising certificate, which isissued by the Law Society. The cost of thesecertificates in 2000 totalled almost£130,000. Also included under this headingis expenditure on training and annualmembership subscriptions.
Cash at Bank and on Hand
The Balance Sheet shows that the Board had inexcess of £3.8 million on hand at the end of2000. There were a number of projects which hadbeen expected to be completed in 2000 whichwere not finalised and resulted in funds beingcarried over to 2001. These items include anumber of IT projects; management training for thesolicitors, which could not be carried out due tothe grade restructuring claim not being finaliseduntil October 2000. There are also a number ofrent reviews outstanding and VAT due on leasestaken out in 2000 were not invoiced until thisyear, the result being that monies had to beavailable to pay for these when they arose.
Monies totalling £498,000 were monies held onbehalf of clients, most of which will be returned toclients during 2001. It will be seen from Note 11to the accounts that the throughput of client fundsin 2000 was over £5.6 million. This arises fromcases where, as a result of legal advice orrepresentation in courts, clients received monieseither from the other party or from the disposal ofproperty. All such monies are initially lodged to the
Legal Aid Client Fund Account before beingreturned to clients less, in some cases, an amountin respect of the costs incurred by the Board inproviding legal services.
Creditors and accruals at 31 December amountedto almost £918,000 and included £165,946which was payable to the Revenue Commissionersin respect of PAYE/PRSI and £53,111 in respectof Professional Service Withholding Tax.
Prompt Payment of Accounts Act, 1997
The Prompt Payment of Accounts Act, 1997 cameinto effect from 2 January 1998. Section 4 of thatAct requires the Board to pay for the supply ofgoods or services by the “prescribed payment date”.The prescribed payment date is currently 45 daysafter the receipt of an invoice or a lesser period asmay be specified in a written contract. If the Boardfails to make payment by the prescribed paymentdate interest shall be payable to the supplier.
Extensive procedures were introduced in order toensure that the Board complied in all materialrespects with the requirements of the PromptPayment of Accounts Act, 1997. Monthly reportsof incidences of interest being incurred arereviewed by management and corrective actiontaken as necessary to ensure both compliance withthe Act and to minimise the incurring of latepayment interest in subsequent periods.
The total amount of late payment interest paid tosuppliers of goods and services during 2000amounted to IR£1,971 (£4,484 in 1999) whichrepresents 0.03% (0.07% in 1999) of all relevantpayments.
There were 220 instances of late payments duringthe year where the amount payable was in excessof IR£250 (382 in 1999). The total value of thesepayments was IR£180,351 and the average lengthof delay on these payments was 33 days (48 in1999). The overall proportion in monetary termswhich late payments constituted of total paymentsduring 2000 was 3.38% (5.20% in 1999).
Legal Aid Board
28
APPENDICES
Legal Aid Board
APPENDIX 1
LEGAL AID FUND
REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLERAND AUDITOR GENERAL
I have audited the financial statements on pages32 to 40.
Responsibilities of the Board and theComptroller and Auditor General
The accounting responsibilities of the Legal AidBoard are set out in the Statement of the BoardResponsibilities on page 31. It is my responsibilityunder Section 5 of the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (Amendment) Act 1993 to audit thefinancial statements presented to me by the Boardand to report on them. As the result of my audit Iform an independent opinion on the financialstatements.
Basis of Opinion
In the exercise of my function as Comptroller andAuditor General, I plan and perform my audit in away which takes account of the specialconsiderations which attach to State bodies inrelation to their management and operation.
An audit includes examination, on a test basis, ofevidence relevant to the amounts and disclosuresin the financial statements. It also includes asassessment of the significant estimates andjudgments made in the preparation of the financialstatements, and of whether the accounting policiesare appropriate, consistently applied andadequately disclosed.
My audit was conducted in accordance withauditing standards which embrace the standardsissued by the Auditing Practices Board and inorder to provide sufficient evidence to givereasonable assurance that the financial statementsare free from material misstatement whethercaused by fraud or other irregularity or error. Iobtained all the information and explanations thatI required to enable me to fulfil my function asComptroller and Auditor General and in forming myopinion, I also evaluated the overall adequacy ofthe presentation of information in the financialstatements.
Opinion
In my opinion, proper books of accounts have beenkept by the Board and the financial statements,which are in agreement with them, give a true andfair view of the state of the affairs of the Fund at31 December 2000 and of its income andexpenditure and cash flow for the year then ended.
John Purcell
Comptroller and Auditor General
14 December 2001
30
Annual Report 2000
31
STATEMENT OF BOARDRESPONSIBILITIES
Section 20 of the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995requires the Board to keep, in such form as may beapproved by the Minister for Justice, Equality andLaw Reform, with the consent of the Minister forFinance, all proper and usual accounts of anymoneys received or expended by it. In preparingthose Financial Statements, the Board is requiredto:
• select suitable accounting policies and thenapply them consistently
• make judgements and estimates that arereasonable and prudent
• prepare the financial statements on the goingconcern basis unless it is inappropriate topresume that the Fund will continue inoperation
• state whether applicable accounting standardshave been followed, subject to any materialdepartures disclosed and explained in thefinancial statements.
The Board is responsible for keeping proper booksof account which disclose with reasonableaccuracy at any time the financial position of theFund and which enable it to ensure that theFinancial Statements comply with Section 20 ofthe Act. The Board is also responsible forsafeguarding the assets of the Fund and hence fortaking reasonable steps for the prevention anddetection of fraud and other irregularities.
Chairperson
Board Member
12 December 2001
Legal Aid Board
32
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTINGPOLICIES 2000
1 General
The Legal Aid Fund which is provided forunder Section 19 of the Civil Legal Aid Act,1995 is managed by a Legal Aid Boardappointed by the Minister for Justice, Equalityand Law Reform. The Fund consists of all thefinancial resources of the Board. In 2000 theBoard operated out of 31 full-time Centresand 13 part-time Centres throughout thecountry.
2 Basis of Accounting
The financial statements are prepared underthe accruals method of accounting, except asindicated below, and in accordance withgenerally accepted accounting principlesunder the historical cost convention. FinancialReporting Standards recommended by therecognised accountancy bodies are adopted,as they become operative.
3 State Grants
Income under this heading is accounted foron a cash receipts basis.
4 Currency
The unit of currency in which the FinancialStatements are denominated is the IrishPound. Comparative Euro figures aredisclosed for memorandum purposes only.
5 Contributions from Aided Persons &Costs Recovered
Due to the nature of this income, i.e.contributions from persons of modest means,it is considered prudent to account for suchincome on a cash receipts basis. Theestimated amount collectable at 31 December2000 was approximately £35,000. Therewere no bad debts written off in 2000.
6 Fixed Assets and Depreciation
Fixed assets are shown on the Balance Sheetat cost less accumulated depreciation.Depreciation which is calculated over theuseful life of the assets, using the straightline method, is charged at the followingannual rates:-
Office Furniture,Equipment & Computers 20%
A half years depreciation is charged in theyear of purchase and in the year of disposal.
The cost of fitting-out leased premises ischarged in full to the Income and Expenditureaccount in the year in which it is incurred.
7 Capital Account
The Capital Account represents theunamortised amount of income used topurchase fixed assets.
8 Superannuation
Superannuation benefits are provided forunder schemes adopted by the Board. Thereis a liability of an undetermined amount forwhich no provision is made in these accounts.The charge to Salaries is reduced bycontributions to the Spouses’ and Children’sPension Scheme.
Annual Report 2000
33
INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNTfor the year ended 31 December 2000
2000£ £
1999£ £
2000Euro Euro
Note
INCOME
State Funding 1 13,942,507 17,703,332 12,517,719
Contributions from Aided Persons 264,848 336,287 250,131
Costs Recovered 371,413 471,597 398,042
Loss on sale of assets (855 ) (1,086 ) 243,056
Other Income 2 67,562 85,786 37,273
-------------------- 14,645,475 -------------------- 18,595,916 -------------------- 13,446,221
Transfer To Capital Account 3 (189,300) (240,360) (207,810)
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
14,456,175 18,355,556 13,238,411
EXPENDITURE
Salaries and related expenses 4 6,460,979 8,203,751 6,257,436
Fees to Board Members 34,000 43,171 34,000
Accommodation and Establishment expenses 5 2,622,287 3,329,618 1,782,023
Refugee Legal Services 564,719
Legal fees & expenses 6 2,947,909 3,743,072 2,526,058
Costs awarded against the Legal Aid Board 0 0 400
General administration 7 1,122,673 1,425,501 872,099
Depreciation 8 425,982 540,886 357,835
Audit Fee 7,920 10,056 6,600
-------------------- 13,621,750 -------------------- 17,296,055 -------------------- 11,836,451
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
Surplus for Year 834,425 1,059,501 1,401,960
Refund to the Exchequer 17 0 0 (275,000)
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
Surplus after Refund to the Exchequer 834,425 1,059,501 1,126,960
Opening Balance as at 1 January 1,855,720 2,356,279 728,760
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
Closing Balance as at 31 December 2,690,145 3,415,780 1,855,720
-------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
The Fund has no gains and losses in the financial year or the preceding financial year other than those dealtwith in the income and expenditure account.
The results for the year relate to continuing operations.
The Statement of Accounting Policies and Cash Flow Statement together with Notes 1 to 18 form part ofthese Financial Statements.
Chairperson Chief Executive
12 December 2001
Legal Aid Board
34
BALANCE SHEETas at 31 December 2000
2000£ £
2000Euro Euro
1999£ £
Note
FIXED ASSETS 8 1,353,174 1,718,177 1,163,874
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash at Bank and on Hand 3,824,905 4,856,628 3,421,936
Debtors and Prepayments 9 141,854 180,117 707,958
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
3,966,759 5,036,745 4,129,894
LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors and Accruals 10 776,438 985,873 1,625,968
Clients’ Funds 11 500,176 635,093 648,206
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
1,276,614 1,620,966 2,274,174
NET CURRENT ASSETS/(LIABILITIES) 2,690,145 3,415,779 1,855,720
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
TOTAL ASSETS 4,043,319 5,133,956 3,019,594
-------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
REPRESENTED BY:
Income and Expenditure Account 2,690,145 3,415,780 1,855,720
Capital Account 3 1,353,174 1,718,176 1,163,874
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
4,043,319 5,133,956 3,019,594
-------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
The Statement of Accounting Policies and Cash Flow Statement together with Notes 1 to 18 form part ofthese Financial Statements.
Chairperson Chief Executive
12 December 2001
Annual Report 2000
35
CASH FLOW STATEMENTfor the year ended 31 December 2000
2000£
2000Euro
1999£
Note
Net Cash Inflow from Operating Activities 13 977,173 1,240,753 1,973,410
Returns on Investment and Servicing of Finance
Interest Received 52,438 66,583 60,364
Interest paid on Client Settlements (11,783) (14,961) (11,389)
Investing Activities
Sale of Tangible Assets 1,427 1,812 275,000
Purchase of Tangible Assets (616,286) (782,522) (627,021)
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
Net Cash Inflow 402,969 511,665 1,670,364
-------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
Increase in Cash and Cash Equivalents 14 402,969 511,665 1,670,364
-------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
The Statement of Accounting Policies together with Notes 1 to 18 form part of these Financial Statements.
Chairperson Chief Executive
12 December 2001
Legal Aid Board
36
2. OTHER INCOME1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Interest received and receivable 65,320 82,939 37,148
Sundry receipts 2,242 2,847 125 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
67,562 85,786 37,273 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
1. STATE FUNDINGState Funding was received from Vote 19 - Office of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reformas follows
* These grants were provided towards the expenditure incurred on the Refugee Legal Service. See Note 15
1999£
2000Euro
2000£
Subhead K: Oireachtas Grant-in-Aid 12,899,000 16,378,351 11,953,000
Subhead G.1: Asylum Taskforce - Legal Aid* 1,043,507 1,324,981 564,719 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
13,942,507 17,703,332 12,517,719---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
3. CAPITAL ACCOUNT
££
Balance as at 1 January 1,163,874
Transfer from Income and Expenditure Account
- Income used to purchase fixed assets 617,565
- Amount released on disposal of fixed assets (2,283)
- Income amortized in year in line with depreciation of assets (425,982)
189,300 ----------------------
Balance as at 31 December 1,353,174 --------------------------------------------
1999£
2000Euro
2000£
Salaries 5,984,552 7,598,815 5,812,711
Cost of Staff on Secondment 52,234 66,323 133,142
Employer PRSI 424,193 538,613 311,583 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------6,460,979 8,203,751 6,257,436 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Included in the charge for salaries is a provision of £562,204 in respect of the estimated cost of grading award to solicitors employed by the Board (Note 15).
4. EMPLOYEE NUMBERS AND COSTSThe total staff complement as approved by the Minister at 31 December 2000 was 410. The numberof staff actually employed by the Board at 31 December 2000 was 333 (1999 - 250) The averagenumber of employees in the Board during the year was 302 (1999 - 241). Employee and related costswere as follows:
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2000
Annual Report 2000
37
1999£
2000Euro
2000£
Rents 1,935,080 2,457,044 891,859
Cleaning 138,533 175,901 119,188
Lighting and Heating 75,763 96,199 84,984
Maintenance - Premises 393,658 499,843 600,186
Maintenance - Equipment 79,253 100,631 85,806 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------2,622,287 3,329,618 1,782,023 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
5. ACCOMMODATION AND ESTABLISHMENT EXPENSES
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2000
6. LEGAL FEES AND EXPENSES1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Counsel fees 1,569,423 1,992,755 1,628,847
Legal fees 522,417 663,333 409,221
Private Practitioner Scheme 178,035 226,058 111,395
Other Professional fees 394,568 500,998 184,540
Other expenses 283,466 359,928 192,055 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------2,947,909 3,743,072 2,526,058 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
7. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Stationery and Office Expenses 308,727 392,003 172,373
Books and Printing 83,569 106,111 60,495
Postage and Telephone 328,738 417,411 272,419
Insurance 60,030 76,222 52,381
Travel and Subsistence 341,609 433,754 314,431 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------1,122,673 1,425,501 872,099 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Legal Aid Board
38
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2000
9. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Debtors - Deposit Interest 67,807 86,097 39,652
PREPAYMENTS
- Rent 38,320 48,656 38,600
- Insurance 18,165 23,065 16,960
- Wages & Salaries 0 0 29,163
- Other 17,562 22,299 18,864
Refugee Legal Services (Note 14) 0 0 564,719 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
141,854 180,117 707,958 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
10. CREDITORS AND ACCRUALS1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Amounts falling due within one year:
Creditors & Accruals 776,438 985,873 1,625,968---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
776,438 985,873 1,625,968---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Included in Creditors at 31 December 2000, is a sum of £53,111 in respect of Withholding Tax on Counsel,Legal and other Professional fees and £23,880 in respect of PAYE and PRSI.
8. FIXED ASSETS
OfficeFurniture
£
Equipment &Computers
£Total
£
COST
Balance as at 1st January, 2000 529,661 2,228,640 2,758,301
Acquisitions 68,381 549,184 617,565
Disposals (4,089) (300) (4,389)---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Balance as at 31st December, 2000 593,953 2,777,524 3,371,477
DEPRECIATION OF FIXED ASSETS
Balance as at 1st January, 2000 391,954 1,202,473 1,594,427
Charge in Year 57,667 368,315 425,982
Disposals (1,806) (300) (2,106)---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Balance as at 31st December, 2000 447,815 1,570,488 2,018,303
---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------Net Book Value as at 31st December, 2000 146,138 1,207,036 1,353,174
---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------Net Book Value as at 31st December, 1999 137,707 1,026,167 1,163,874
---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Annual Report 2000
39
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2000
Euro£
Client funds held at 1 January 648,206 823,052
Add Awards/settlements received during 2000 5,405,467 6,863,528
Less Settlements paid out including interest allowed and costs recovered 5,560,249 7,060,060 ---------------------- ----------------------
Client funds held at 31 December 493,424 626.520
Interest accruing on Client Funds held 6,752 8,573
---------------------- ----------------------Total due to Clients 500,176 635,093
11. CLIENTS’ FUNDSThese funds represent the gross amounts plus interest accrued, which were held by the Board at 31December 2000 on foot of awards or settlements made in favour of clients represented by the Board.The Board may recover therefrom the total cost of providing such legal services and the balance is paidto the persons represented.
13. RECONCILIATION OF SURPLUS FOR YEAR TO CASH FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Surplus for Year 834,425 1,059,501 1,126,960
Adjustment for Non-Operating Items
Bank Interest Receivable (65,320) (82,939) (37,148)
Loss on Disposal of Fixed Assets 855 1,086 (243,056)
Movement on Capital Account 189,300 240,360 207,810
Adjustment for Non-Cash Items
Depreciation 425,982 540,884 357,835
Decrease in Debtors 594,257 754,552 (607,012)
Decrease in Creditors (1,002,326) (1,272,691) 1,168,021---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
977,173 1,240,753 1,973,410 ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Euro£
2000 62,802 79,742
2001 - 2005 4,700 5,968
2006 onwards 887,215 1,126,531
12. COMMITMENTS UNDER OPERATING LEASESThe Board occupies premises at St. Stephen's Green House, Dublin 2 and operates out of 30 otherCentres throughout the country. The Board is committed to pay rent of £954,717 during 2001 inrespect of leases expiring as follows:
Legal Aid Board
40
15. REFUGEE LEGAL SERVICE1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Expenditure and Income relating to Refugee Legal Services are included in theIncome and Expenditure account under the following headings. The comparative figures for 1999 have been restated in the Income and Expenditure account
Expenditure
Salaries and Wages 678,984 862,131 411,627
VAT on leases 600,000 761,843 0
Other Accommodation Expenses 223,295 283,526 64,894
Legal Fees and Professional fees 338,249 429,487 55,384
General Administration 69,363 88,073 41,513 ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------1,919,891 2,437,758 573,418
Less contributions from legally aided persons (43,108) (54,736) (11,859)---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Net expenditure in the year 1,876,783 2,383,022 561,559
Cash held by the Refugee Legal Service as at 31 December 1999 3,160 ----------------------
Total advances by the Fund to the Refugee Legal Service (Note 8) 564,719--------------------------------------------
16. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES AND CHARGES
Solicitors Regrading Costs 562,204 562,204 – ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
The provision was utilised during the year and therefore there is anil provision at the end of the year.
17. REFUND TO THE EXCHEQUER
The refund to the Exchequer of £275,000 in 1999 represents the proceeds of the sale of a premised of the Board in Waterford.
18. APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Financial Statements were approved by the Board on December 10th, 2001
At 31 Dec2000
Paid during2000
At 1 Jan2000
14. MOVEMENT OF CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS1999
£2000Euro
2000£
Balance at 1 January 3,421,936 4,344,962 1,751,572
Net Cash Inflow 402,969 511,665 1,670,364
---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------Balance at 31 December 3,824,905 4,856,627 3,421,936
---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
Annual Report 2000
41
APPENDIX 2STATISTICS FOR 2000
TABLE 1: Analysis of Applications dealt with in 2000
No. of persons provided with legalservices
No. of persons given legal advice only No. of persons given legal advice andrepresentation (i.e., legal aidcertificates)
2000
14,382 9,411 4,971
2000 20001999
14,448 9,299 5,149
1999 1999
TABLE 1a: Analysis of Applications dealt with by the Refugee Legal Service in 2000
No. of persons provided with legalservices
No. of persons given legal advice only No. of persons given legal advice andrepresentation (i.e., legal aidcertificates)
2000
3,424 1,198 2,226
2000 20001999
1,622 575 1,047
1999 1999
TABLE 2: Analysis of Legal Aid Certificate by Court
Law Centres
DistrictCourt
Type of caseCircuitCourt
HighCourt
SupremeCourt
Total
1,432
27
786
2,245
2,640
86
-
2,726
139
32
-
171
6
1
-
7
4,217
146
786
5,149
1999 1999 1999 1999 1999
1,257
17
923
2,197
2,493
48
-
2,541
111
118
-
229
2
2
-
4
3,863
185
923
4,971
2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Family Law
Other
PrivatePractitioners
Total
Legal Aid Board
42
TABLE 3: Legal Advice in 2000 - Analysis of Subject Matter
2000
No. of instances in which issue wasthe subject of adviceIssue
1999
Adoption 18 47Barring/Safety 2,991 3,130Child Abuse 152 158Child Abduction 89 107Custody/Access 7,105 7,980Separation 4,155 4,814Divorce 3,770 3,851Property 3,189 3,567Maintenance 4,201 4,551Nullity 572 749Wardship 56 77Family Law ( other) 414 645Conveyancing 584 704Child Care 525 593Foreign Divorces 83 197Wills/Probate/Succession 1,317 1,295Contract 103 103Injunction against co-habitee 49 308Injunction – other 128 118HP/Debt 93 143Social Welfare 80 295Landlord/Tenant 57 79Tort 390 423Unfair dismissal 15 23Miscellaneous* 340 451
* Includes, for example, housing and civil assault
Annual Report 2000
43
(a) Family Law Cases
CircuitCourt
DistrictCourt
PROCEEDINGSHighCourt
SupremeCourt
Total
2000 1999
Barring 570 34 1 0 605 720
Safety Order 176 6 1 0 183 201
Access 207 38 1 0 246 271
Custody 144 27 1 0 172 183
Maintenance 320 48 8 0 376 419
Child Care 122 68 5 0 195 175
Guardianship 76 11 2 0 89 103
Judical Separation 0 990 13 0 1,003 1,060
Divorce 0 1,219 6 0 1,225 1,317
Injunction 0 41 1 0 42 33
Nullity 0 36 0 0 36 41
Child Abduction 0 0 65 2 67 84
Adoption 0 0 1 0 1 1
Wardship 0 6 7 0 13 10
Other 1 12 0 0 13 16
Total 1,616 2,536 112 2 4,266 (1) 4,634
LAW CENTRES
PRIVATE PRACTITIONERS
CircuitCourt
DistrictCourt
PROCEEDINGSHighCourt
SupremeCourt
Total
2000 1999
Barring 463 0 0 0 463 385
Safety Order 102 0 0 0 102 82
Access 248 0 0 0 248 206
Custody 110 0 0 0 110 75
Maintenance 239 0 0 0 239 273
Guardianship 77 0 0 0 77 69
Total 1,239 0 0 0 1,239 (1) 1,090
TABLE 4: Legal Aid Analysis of proceedings by Court and by subject matter of proceedings
Legal Aid Board
44
(b) Non-Family Law Cases
CircuitCourt
DistrictCourt
PROCEEDINGS
LAW CENTRES
HighCourt
SupremeCourt
Total
2000 1999
Tort 4 14 22 0 40 48
Contract 2 1 0 0 3 5
Employer/Employee 0 0 0 0 0 1
Debt 3 1 4 0 8 20
Property 7 26 4 0 37 53
Landlord /Tenant 0 1 0 0 1 2
Miscellaneous 1 5 11 0 17 17
RLS Judicial Review 0 0 77 2 79 n/a
Total 17 48 118 2 185 146
(1) Certificates issued (especially in family law cases) frequently cover several sets of proceedings e.g. barringand maintenance or custody and maintenance. Accordingly, the total of this table will not agree with thetotal of certificated issued.
Annual Report 2000
45
APPENDIX 3 - LAW CENTRES
Full-time Law Centres
LAW CENTRE MANAGING SOLICITOR
CAVANNewcourt Shopping Centre, Church Street, Cavan. Shane DooleyTel: (049) 433 1110 Fax: (049) 433 1304
CLAREUnit 6A, Merchant’s Square, Ennis, Co. Clare. Mary CuffeTel: (065) 682 1929 Fax: (065) 682 1939
CORKNorth Quay House, Popes Quay, Cork. Betty DineenTel: (021) 551 686 Fax: (021) 551 690
1A South Mall, Cork. Brian SheridanTel: (021) 275 998 Fax: (021) 276 927
DONEGALHouston House, Main Street, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Geraldine O’ConnorTel: (074) 26177 Fax: (074) 26086
DUBLIN45 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin 1. Kevin ListonTel: (01) 874 5440 Fax: (01) 874 4937
9 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1. Gerard KirwanTel: (01) 872 4133 Fax: (01) 872 4937
Tower Centre, Clondalkin Village, Dublin 22. Hugh CunniamTel: (01) 457 6011 Fax: (01) 457 6007
Village Green, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Pauline CorcoranTel: (01) 451 1519 Fax: (01) 451 7989
44/49 Main Street, Finglas, Dublin 11. John WestonTel: (01) 864 0314 Fax: (01) 864 0362
47 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2. Ray FinucaneTel: (01) 662 3655 Fax: (01) 662 3662
Unit 6-8, Business Centre, Clonsilla Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. VacantTel: (01) 820 0455 Fax: (01) 820 0450
GALWAYFrancis Street, Galway. Mary GriffinTel: (091) 561 650 Fax: (091) 563 825
KERRY1 Day Place, Tralee, Co Kerry. Carol Ann CoolicanTel: (066) 712 6900 Fax: (066) 712 3631
KILDARECanning Place, Newbridge, Co Kildare. Maeve SlatteryTel: (045) 435 777 Fax: (045) 435 766
KILKENNYMaudlin Street, Kilkenny. Niall MurphyTel: (056) 61611 Fax: (056) 61562
LAOISUnit 6A, Bridge Street, Portlaoise, Co Laois. Máire Ní CruadhlaoichTel: (0502) 61366 Fax: (0502) 61362
LIMERICKLock Quay, Limerick. Fergal RooneyTel: (061) 314 599 Fax: (061) 318 330
LONGFORDCredit Union Courtyard, 50A Main Street, Longford. Helen O’ReillyTel: (043) 47590 Fax: (043) 47594
LOUTHThe Laurels, Dundalk, Co Louth. Deirdre McMichaelTel: (042) 933 0448 Fax: (042) 933 0991
Legal Aid Board
46
LAW CENTRE MANAGING SOLICITOR
MAYOHumbert Hall, Main Street, Castlebar, Co Mayo. Tom O’MahonyTel: (094) 24334 Fax: (094) 23721
MEATHKennedy Road, Navan, Co Meath. John McDaidTel: (046) 72515 Fax: (046) 72519
MONAGHANAlma House, The Diamond, Monaghan. Margaret O’Shea GrewcockTel: (047) 84888 Fax: (047) 84879
OFFALYHarbour Street, Tullamore. Helen O’ReillyTel: (0506) 51177 Fax: (0506) 51544
SLIGOBridgewater House, Rockwood Parade, Thomas Street, Sligo. Fiona McGuireTel: (071) 61670 Fax: (071) 61681
TIPPERARYFriarscourt, Nenagh, Co Tipperary. Josephine FairTel: (067) 34181 Fax: (067) 34083
WATERFORDCanada House, Canada Street, Waterford. Aidan LynchTel: (051) 855 814 Fax: (051) 871 237
WESTMEATHNorthgate Street, Athlone, Co Westmeath. Phil O’LaoideTel: (0902) 74694 Fax: (0902) 72160
WEXFORDUnit 8, Redmond Square, Wexford.Tel: (053) 22622 Fax: (053) 24927
WICKLOWBridge Street, Wicklow. Frank MurphyTel: (0404) 66166 Fax: (0404) 66197
REFUGEE LEGAL SERVICETimberlay House, 79/83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2.Tel: (01) 631 0800 Fax: (01) 661 5011
Montague Court, 7-11 Montague Street, Dublin 2. Frank Caffrey, John McDaid, Grainne BrophyTel: (01) 476 0265 Fax: (01) 476 0271
48-49 North Brunswick Street, Georges Lane, Dublin 7.Tel: (01) 646 9600 Fax: (01) 671 0200
Applications for legal aid certificates under the private practitioner project are referred to:
Private Practitioner Centre,Dolphin House,East Essex Street,Dublin 2,
Tel: (01) 888 6000 ext. 6655
}
Annual Report 2000
47
Part-time Law Centres
LOCATION AND TELEPHONE OPEN ON LAW CENTRE
CARLOWSt. Catherine’s Social Services Centre, First and Third KilkennySt. Joseph’s Road, Carlow. Friday of everyTel: (0503) 31354 month
CLAREKilrush Community Centre, Fourth ClareToler Street, Kilrush. Wednesday ofTel: (065) 682 1929 every month
CORKMallow - Operating from Cork Popes Quay Fourth Monday Popes Quay, Corkon a Temporary Basis of every monthTel: (021) 551 686
DONEGALThe Courthouse, Donegal Town. First Friday of DonegalTel: (074) 26177 every month
KERRYKillarney - Operating from Tralee Law Centre Every Friday Kerryon a Temporary Basis morningTel: (066) 712 6900
LEITRIMNorth Western Health Board, First Wednesday LongfordLeitrim Road, Carrick-on-Shannon. of every monthTel: (043) 47590
LOUTHDrogheda Community Services First & Second Ormond Quay, DublinCentre, Fair Street, Drogheda. Tuesday of everyTel: (041) 36084 / 33490 month
MAYOBallina Community Centre, First Monday CastlebarTeeling Street, Ballina. of every monthTel: (094) 24334
Health Centre, Fourth Tuesday GalwayKnock Road, Ballyhaunis. of every monthTel: (091) 561 650
ROSCOMMONCitizens’ Information Centre, First Monday SligoPatrick Street, Boyle. of every monthTel: (071) 61670
TIPPERARYThurles Community Social Services, Second Tuesday TipperaryRossa Street, Thurles. of every monthTel: (067) 34181
Citizens’ Information Centre, First, Second & Tipperary14 Wellington Street, Clonmel. Third Monday ofTel: (052) 22267 every month
WESTMEATHEnterprise Centre, Last Friday WestmeathBishopgate Street, Mullingar. of every monthTel: (0902) 74694
Legal Aid Board
APPENDIX 4 - MEANS TEST
The applicable criteria for assessing financialeligibility are contained in Section 29 of the CivilLegal Aid Act, 1995 and in Part 5 of the CivilLegal Aid Regulations, 1996.
Income Eligibility
The present eligibility limit is £7,350 per annumdisposable income. Disposable income is theincome that remains after various deductions havebeen made in respect of dependants,rent/mortgage, income tax, social insurance, etc.
Income Contribution
A person whose disposable income does notexceed £5,060 per annum is required to pay acontribution of £4 for legal advice and £23 forlegal aid.
Where the disposable income exceeds £5,060 perannum, a person is required to pay a largercontribution up to a maximum of £595. In suchcases the contribution is calculated as follows: -
Legal Adviceone tenth of the difference between disposableincome and £5,060, subject to a minimumcontribution of £4 and a maximum of £64;
Legal Aid£23 plus one quarter of the difference betweendisposable income and £5,060.
Capital
If it becomes necessary to go to court, the value ofthe applicant’s capital resources (e.g. house, land,money in a bank, car) is also taken into accountand a capital contribution may be payable.However, capital contributions arise only in aminority of cases.
Present Allowances against income
The maximum allowances for the purpose ofcalculating the disposable income of applicants forlegal services are as follows:-
Allowances: £
Applicant’s spouse 1,328
Dependent child 668
Payment towards householdexpenses by unmarried person 1,256
Rent 2,976
Mortgage 3,802
Travelling expenses 265
Hire Purchase payments 265
Loan interest payments 602
Life & Health Insurance 754
Board & Lodgings -50% of payment up to 1,599
Child care expenses 668
Income tax Full amount
Social Insurance Full amount
Rates Full amount
Ex Gratia payments 520
Examples of Operation of Means Test
The following are some actual examples of theoperation of the means test in the case of marriedpersons with dependants and certain outgoings.
Married Person with four children on a grossincome of £10,076 where the spouse is not adependant.
£Income 10,076
Less allowances: £4 children 2,672P.R.S.I. 3Interest on loans 60 2,735
Disposable income 7,341
Contribution : £593
48
Annual Report 2000
Married person with three children on a grossincome of £15,398
£Income 15,398
Less allowances: £Spouse 1,3283 children 2,004Rent 2,976P.R.S.I. 758P.A.Y.E. 1,460 8,526
Disposable income 6,872
Contribution: £476
Married person with two children on a grossincome of £9,267
£Income 9,267
Less allowances £Spouse 13282 children 1336Mortgage 3802Travel expenses 265P.R.S.I. 396P.A.Y.E. 82 7,209
Disposable income 2,058
Contribution: £23
Married person with one child on a gross income of£10,144 where the spouse is not a dependant.
£Income 10,144
Less allowances: £1 child 668Rent 520Travel expenses 260Interest on loans 406P.R.S.I. 397P.A.Y.E. 1,072 3,324
Disposable income 6,820
Contribution: £463
APPENDIX 5
INFORMATION LEAFETS AVAILABLE FROM THELEGAL AID BOARD
Leaflet No.1 Civil Legal Aid
Leaflet No.2 Family Law General
Leaflet No.3 Separation
Leaflet No.4 Divorce
Leaflet No.5 Nullity
Leaflet No.6 Maintenance
Leaflet No.7 Domestic Violence
Leaflet No.8 Children and Family Law
Leaflet No.9 Wills and Inheritance
INFORMATION LEAFETS AVAILABLE FROM THELEGAL AID BOARD IN 2001
Leaflet No.10 Customer Care and ComplaintsProcedure
Leaflet No.11 Applying for Legal Services
Leaflet No.12 Withdrawal of Legal Services
Leaflet No.13 Financial Eligibility
49
Legal Aid Board
50
NOTES
Annual Report 2000
NOTES
51
Legal Aid Board
INDEX
Capacity of the Board to meetdemand for services ........................................ 9
Cases Dealt with in 2000 .............................. 11
Developments in 2000 .................................... 6
Divorce ......................................................... 12Legal Aid Certificates - Divorce ................... 12
Executive Staff ............................................... 4
Family Law Cases .......................................... 11Legal Aid Certificates - Judicial Separation .. 12
Finance ........................................................ 26Income ..................................................... 26Grant-in-Aid .............................................. 26Contributions ............................................ 26Recovery of Costs ...................................... 26Expenditure .............................................. 26Breakdown ................................................ 27Legal Fees and Expenses ........................... 27Salaries .................................................... 27Maintenance ............................................. 27Counsel’s Fees .......................................... 27Private Practitioners Scheme ...................... 28Other Expenses ......................................... 28Cash at Bank and on Hand ......................... 28Prompt Payment of Accounts Act, 1997 ...... 28
Foreword by Chairperson .................................. 2
Functions of the Board .................................... 6
Law Centres - Appendix 3 .............................. 45Locations of Full Time Law Centres ............. 45Locations of Part-Time Law Centres ............ 47
Law Society Report ....................................... 15
Legal Aid Fund - Appendix 1 .......................... 30Statement of Board Responsibilities ............ 31Statement of Accounting Policies and Principles 2000 .................................. 32Income and Expenditure Accountof the Year EndedDecember 2000 ........................................ 33Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2000 ...... 34Cash Flow Statementfor the Year Ended 31 December 2000 ....... 35Notes to the Financial Statementsfor the Year Ended 31 December 2000 ....... 36
Means Test - Appendix 4 ............................... 48Income Eligibility ...................................... 48Income Contribution .................................. 48Capital ..................................................... 48Present Allowances against income ............. 48Examples of Operation of Means Test .......... 48
Refugee Legal Service ................................... 14
Selection of Legally Aided Cases .................... 16Child abduction ......................................... 16Nullity Proceedings ................................... 17Judicial Review Proceedings - Child Care...... 18Judicial Review Proceedings - Domestic Violence ...................................... 18Child Care Proceedings - Health Boardplacing a child outside the State ................ 19Declaration of Parentage Proceedings .......... 20Eastern European Asylum seeker ................ 21An Asylum Seeker from Western African ...... 21An Asylum Seeker from a Western Africian County ............................. 22An Asylum Seeker from a Eastern European Country ........................... 22
Staff Matters ................................................ 23
Staff Resources ............................................ 23Cahirciveen ............................................... 23Solicitors pay claims .................................. 23Strategic Management Initiative (SMI) ........ 23Organisational Flexibility ............................ 24Quality Assurance ...................................... 24Performance Management andDevelopment System ................................. 24Partnership ............................................... 24Staff Development ..................................... 25Equality of Opportunity .............................. 25Health and Safety ..................................... 25
Statistics for 2000 - Appendix 2 .................... 41Analysis of Applications dealt with in 2000 ... 41Analysis of Applications dealt with by theRefugee Legal Service in 2000 ................... 41Analysis of Legal Aid Certificate by Court .... 41Analysis of Subject Matter ......................... 42Analysis of proceedings by Court and by subject matter of proceedings ................ 43
Strategic Management Initiative ..................... 23
The Board ...................................................... 5
Use of Private Practitioners ............................ 13
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