Criminal Law Committee convenes meeting
The Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee has convened an online information meeting tomorrow (19 June) for solicitors regarding proposed changes to the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme.
Some solicitors nationwide are withdrawing their services from the courts. Many criminal cases across the country did not proceed yesterday following a withdrawal of services by some criminal-legal aid solicitors and law firms.
This withdrawal of services looks set to continue for the rest of this week.
The move is part of an ongoing tussle with the Government about changes to the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, from 1 July.
Tomorrow’s gathering has been organised by criminal-law solicitors after a Law Society meeting in Dublin last week of more than 150 solicitors from all over the country.
In February, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan announced plans to introduce a flat fee for criminal legal-aid services in the District Courts. The proposed €455 flat fee will cover a case from beginning to end, regardless of the number of court appearances a solicitor has to make on behalf of a client.
‘Completely unviable’
On RTE’s Morning Ireland yesterday (17 June), solicitor Frank Buttimer argued that the proposed new system was “completely unviable” due to short notice, lack of staged payments, and potential non-payment when clients disappeared to avoid bench warrants.
Buttimer has criticised the Department of Justice’s review, claiming it misrepresented legal-aid issues and placed the blame on solicitors for State inefficiencies. He disputed the department’s findings of abuse in the legal-aid system, arguing that the comparison between legal-aid and private fee-paying clients was flawed and attempted to compare “apples with oranges”.
The high-profile criminal lawyer highlighted that legal-aid cases often involved more complex and delayed processes compared with private fee-paying cases.
Pat Mann (president, Kerry Law Society) concurred with this viewpoint, stating that multiple court appearances were often required due to structural pressures beyond a solicitor’s control.
Escalation possible
In response to questioning on Morning Ireland, Mr Buttimer commented that the solicitors’ withdrawal of services was not uniform across the country – some areas were experiencing complete withdrawals, while others, such as Cork, were still deciding on their actions.
“So people should understand that there is not a complete collapse in the system,” he said. “I think it will certainly escalate. The problem is that the deadline for this situation to be imposed upon us, unilaterally, is approximately two weeks, giving us very little time to have a completely unified approach.”
Criminal Legal Aid continues to be raised in the Dáil and in public statements issued by TDs. Deputies across the political parties have kept the issue on the agenda and many have met with the Law Society on the matter. They include: Brian Brennan TD, Gary Gannon TD, Paula Butterly TD, Matt Carthy TD, Padraig O Sullivan TD, Catherine Ardagh TD, Mairead Farrell TD, Barry Ward SC TD, Willie O’Dea TD and Tom Brabazon TD.