A 52-per-cent increase between the amount budgeted and the amount actually spent for legal aid services in the 2005/06 financial year elicited a query during Finance Committee Monday.
Speaker of the House Edna Moyle, who is also the North Side Member of Legislative Assembly during Finance Committee, questioned the reasons for the $600,000 supplementary appropriation to the original $1,150,000 appropriated in the 2005/06 Budget.
‘I’m concerned about the constantly increasing cost of (legal aid) to this country,’ she said.
Mrs. Moyle noted that the hours quantity measure had remained the same in the revised budget, and questioned Attorney General Sam Bulgin why the cost was then so much higher.
‘Are we employing more expensive (Queen’s Counsels) from overseas and not employing qualified attorneys at home?’ she asked
Mr. Bulgin confirmed that several overseas attorneys had in fact been retained for what he called ‘routine maters.’
‘That has contributed to the cost going up,’ he said.
Mrs. Moyle responded by saying she was concerned that overseas attorneys were being retained for routine matters.
‘Are there not qualified lawyers resident on this island that can handle these matters?’ she asked.
Mr. Bulgin said local counsel is in fact appointed, but that they often request lead counsels, which are usually QCs from either Jamaica or the United Kingdom.
In effort to curtail the cost of legal aid when possible, Mr. Bulgin said he would speak to those who deal with the granting of legal aid and ‘request greater scrutiny as to whether this is granted.’
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