In relation to Question No. 14, will the Minister clarify his reference to the funds of suitors money and the disbursement of that? Will money be made available from that fund for the Coolock Community Law Centre? Question No. 21 relates to the three vacancies the Minister said had been filled. Will the Minister indicate where those three vacancies have been filled? To which law centres were solicitors appointed? Question No. 22 asked the Minister to indicate what law centres have waiting lists or are not in a position to deal with cases as they come? I am aware that a number of law centres refuse to accept cases because they are not in a position to deal with them. In one case I know of, people have been told to come back in six weeks time.

(Limerick East): The Minister for the Public Service agreed that I could appoint those three solicitors outside of the embargoed posts. One was appointed to Gardiner Street on 24 January 1985 and two were appointed to Cork Law Centre in 1984.

In relation to the funds of suitors, the Government have decided to allocate the money available from the residue of the funds of suitors to the Legal Aid Board to fund the expansion of the legal aid services, as I have outlined, in Cork, Dublin, Tallaght, Tralee and Athlone. The amount of money required to do that until 1987 is £450,000. That will not be the total residue, but it is not possible for me to calculate the total residue until the Board of Works have accepted tenders for the new children's court in Dublin. Then I will know what remains and the remaining portion of the residue will be used again for legal aid purposes to fund centres at Dundalk, Portlaoise, Castlebar and Letterkenny. At the moment I am not in a position to quantify that because it depends on the cost of the children's court in Dublin which has priority under the funds of suitors. However, I know that there is at least a residue of £450,000 which is being used for the four centres I have outlined.

As I said in my reply, there is a waiting period of three to four weeks for non-emergency cases in Dublin. In Cork, where there is one centre at present, it is about two weeks; in Limerick the delay is about four weeks; in Sligo one week; and in Waterford there is no waiting period and applicants can see a solicitor in two or three days. The new centres should cut into that waiting list a great deal and, of course, anybody who has an emergency problem is dealt with without delay. Emergency cases are still being dealt with in all centres without delay. One could give various examples of emergency cases, but generally family law cases where violence is involved and there is a necessity for a barring order quickly is the kind of emergency case one would meet most often and there is no waiting period for them.