Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
537. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Justice the actions being taken to address lengthy waiting lists for the mediation service provided by the Legal Aid Board; if he will provide details of any guidelines in place regarding target waiting times for mediation services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24176/23]
View answerThe Legal Aid Board is the statutory, independent body responsible for the provision of civil legal aid and advice to persons of modest means in the State, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996 to 2017. The Act was amended by Section 54 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, which gave the Board the additional responsibility to provide a family mediation service.
Section 3(3) of the Act provides that the Board shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be independent in the exercise of its functions.
However, to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made with the Legal Aid Board. The Board operates a total of 30 full-time law centres along with a number of part-time centres, and three specialist legal offices. It also operates 17 family mediation centres. Eight of the law centres and family mediation offices are co-located.
I am further informed that the Legal Aid Board’s Family Mediation Strategy outlines a target waiting time of 14 weeks to access the services of a mediator. I understand that as of April 2023 the average waiting time is 17 weeks.
I understand that waiting lists for mediation are regularly triaged at national level and, where clients who are based in a particular region give their consent, they are offered online mediation from another office with a shorter waiting list.
I am informed that a competition has recently been announced by the Legal Aid Board to fill a number of mediator vacancies.
Ministerial approval was also given in July 2022 to establish a Private Practitioner Mediator Panel who would take mediation cases on referral from the Legal Aid Board. A Panel has been established and I am informed that the referral of cases will begin shortly.
