I call Deputy Grealish on behalf of the Regional Group.

First, on my own behalf and that of my Regional Group colleagues, could I offer our condolences to Deputy Verona Murphy, whose father, Patrick, passed away suddenly this morning? May his gentle soul rest in peace.

Four out of five burglars released from prison in Ireland go on to re-offend within a short period - more than half of them within a year of their release. It is the same with people jailed for public order offences. Four out of five of them are back before the courts within three years of them being released. Their victims, the very people they robbed from and whose lives they have seriously disrupted, have to pay for these criminals to get a proper defence, as does every other law-abiding taxpayer in this country. Last year, the bill to the taxpayer for providing free legal aid in criminal cases was more than €76 million. In the past seven years, we have paid out in excess of €450 million in free legal aid. A large portion of this money is being spent on defending the indefensible - people who have no regard for the law or the consequences of their actions, who have broken the law on countless occasions and who know that every time that they are caught they will get the best defence in court without it costing them one red cent.

In the past when I have raised the issue of withholding free legal aid to persistent offenders who have broken the law on countless occasions, I have been informed that this would be constitutionally impossible. In that case, we should change the law so that these repeat offenders, often with hundreds of convictions behind them, must over a period at least repay the cost of providing that legal aid. That is to say we should be deducting from the pay they get from their employers until the debt is repaid. In the case of those drawing social welfare, the same should be done. A certain amount of money should be withheld from their weekly payments. Hitting them where it hurts is the only way that I can see it making these repeat offenders think twice. They are making a mockery of the law and there is never any compensation for the victim of their crimes. If they get caught, it is the taxpayer, including the very people whom they have victimised, who have to pay for them to be defended in court. The current legislation programme includes a new criminal justice (legal aid) Bill under which it is proposed to update and strengthen the system of granting criminal legal aid. Will the Taoiseach commit to include in that legislation changes that would require defendants with a record of persistent offending to be forced to pay back the cost of free legal aid provided to them?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and join with him in offering condolences to Deputy Verona Murphy. I had not heard about her father passing on. All our thoughts are with her today.

I thank Deputy Grealish for raising this issue. It is a matter of enormous annoyance to people that those who have multiple convictions, who have a history of recidivism, get legal aid paid for by the State which is, of course, paid for by the taxpayer. Many people who I meet regularly raise this issue; the frustration in seeing people committing crimes on bail and in seeing people who have a long criminal record having their solicitor and barrister paid for by the taxpayer and I understand where the Deputy is coming from. However, we have a Constitution and we operate on the basis that people are innocent until proven guilty. Even if somebody has been found guilty twice or three times, that does not necessarily mean that he or she is guilty on every occasion. That is the principle that we have, namely, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. As has been said centuries ago, better that two or three guilty men should go free than one innocent man be convicted unfairly or inappropriately.

The Deputy touched on the possibility of recouping some of the cost from people who have been convicted, not making the presumption that they may or may not be guilty, but if they receive legal aid and are subsequently found guilty, whether some of the cost could be recouped. That is definitely an idea worth exploring in context of the criminal legal aid Bill and I will certainly raise that with the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and see if it is possible.

I thank the Taoiseach. Under the new Bill, somebody applying for free legal aid may be asked to contribute towards the cost of his or her defence if the Legal Aid Board decides he or she can afford it but too many of the repeat offenders I am talking about will be well capable of hiding their ill-gotten gains.

I would like to see the Bill requiring those persistent criminals with a certain number of convictions behind them to repay the costs of their defence over time, be it from wages or future social welfare payments. The principle of deducting a portion of social welfare payments is already established in the case of overpayments with up to 15% taken from the personal weekly rate until the money is paid back. This should also be done for the defence costs of serial offenders. The taxpayer should no longer have to suffer the indignity of paying out hard-earned money for free legal aid. The laws governing the provision of free legal aid to persistent offenders simply have to change and change radically.

Work to modernise and improve the operation of the criminal legal aid scheme is under way as part of the criminal justice (legal aid) Bill, which is being drafted at present. It is intended that as part of this modernisation, the Bill will update the court application and eligibility process and in appropriate cases, the applicant may be subject to an assessment of means. Following this assessment, the Legal Aid Board will be able to recommend to the court that the applicant can make a contribution to the cost of providing legal aid. However, the Constitution obliges that the State provide an accused person with the means to obtain appropriate legal representation and the European Convention on Human Rights also provides that every person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to defend himself or herself in person or through legal assistance of his or her own choosing or if he or she has insufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require. Therefore, the criminal legal aid scheme must operate with due regard to these rights.