Legal Aid Board reports steady demand for legal services in 2015

The Board received 16,793 applications for civil legal aid and advice (including asylum related matters) last year.

The largest increase was recorded in the area of asylum, where the number of applications rose by 70 per cent from 902 to 1,537.

Altogether, the Board’s law centres dealt with 17,959 cases, down around 400 on 2014, while 5,534 were referred out to private solicitors.

The Board’s chairperson Philip O’Leary and chief executive John McDaid acknowledged that waiting times for an appointment with a solicitor in civil legal aid cases remained a challenge in 2015.

However, the numbers waiting for legal services fell from over 3,400 at the start of the year to just over 2,300 on the 31st December 2015.

The Board continued to make use of private practitioners to help reduce the numbers of clients waiting for legal services.

In 2015, more than 5,500 applicants presenting with a family law problem were advised and represented by private solicitors. The Board also commenced a pilot project involving the use of private solicitors in public law child care matters.