Shutdown plan ‘deeply regrettable’ – minister
The Minister for Justice has described a decision by some criminal-defence solicitors to fully withdraw their services from today (22 July) as “deeply regrettable”.
Dublin-based criminal-defence solicitors yesterday announced plans to escalate protests against a flat-fee scheme for criminal legal-aid payments in the District Court that came into effect on 1 July.
In a statement, the solicitors said that they were planning a two-day shutdown of all cases in the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ), with further action planned over three days next week.
They said that the scheme was imposed “without meaningful consultation or discussion”, adding that the minister and Department of Justice had refused to engage meaningfully with them on the scheme.
A spokesperson for the group said that solicitors and their representative body were available “at any time” to meet and work towards agreement.
Solicitors across the country have been withdrawing from the criminal legal-aid panel in protest at the change.
Minister rejects ‘collapse’ suggestion
Minister Jim O’Callaghan, however, rejected suggestions that the criminal-justice system had ‘collapsed’, saying that more than 200 new payment certificates had been issued to solicitors since the new fee structure was introduced.
“It is deeply regrettable that certain solicitors have decided to withdraw their services in full today,” the minister said.
“This action will result in the unnecessary adjournment of court proceedings, which will negatively impact on any person who finds themselves in contact with the criminal-justice system,” he added.
The minister defended the new system, saying: ”I cannot allow a blank cheque to be written by the taxpayer to allow for multiple payment certificates to be issued for one accused person or multiple unnecessary adjournments being sought.”
Impact ‘downplayed’
The Law Society, however, said that it was “ deeply concerned” about the impact the current dispute was having on the administration of justice.
It added that it was “regrettable” that the Department of Justice was downplaying this.
Referring to the minister’s figures on payment certificates, the organisation said that they represented a drop of more than 90% when measured against the weekly averages for 2024 and 2025.
In response to the minister’s statement that the Law Society had not requested a meeting with him since talks on 29 May, the organisation said that it had had further meetings with his officials and requested further engagement, adding that it was available to meet at any time to discuss and try to resolve the issue.