Judge’s comments on legal-aid case ‘significant’
The Law Society has welcomed comments from the High Court urging the parties involved in a judicial review of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme to resolve the matter outside of court.
In July, Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty reserved judgment in a legal challenge taken by solicitor John Quinn from Dublin against the flat-fee system introduced by Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan earlier that month.
The Law Society described the comments from the High Court as “significant”, noting that they followed concerns expressed by the Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell last week.
The chief justice said that the continuation of the dispute between criminal-defence solicitors and the Department of Justice was a matter of concern to him and to judges generally.
‘Meet directly’ call
“The Law Society agrees that this matter needs to be resolved without any further delay and again calls on the minister and his officials to meet directly, as the minister has previously ruled out mediation,” a statement from the solicitors’ representative body said.
“Our objective is to secure an effective and sustainable criminal legal-aid system that protects access to justice and commands the confidence of those who use it,” the Law Society concluded.
In a letter to the Law Society last week, the minister rejected a proposal to enter mediation aimed at resolving concerns about the scheme.
While expressing support for mediation in principle, he argued that such a process would be inappropriate while legal proceedings remained before the courts, noting that a High Court judgment in the judicial review was still awaited.