THE WHEELS of justice could grind to a halt in Limerick in October, a judge warned, as members of the legal profession down tools in a row about legal aid fees.
Judge Carol Ann Coolican was adjourning cases at the District Court in Newcastle West this week when she noticed that some of the adjourned cases could fall for hearing on October 3, the date set by the Bar Council for withdrawal of services by members handling legal aid cases.
Judge Coolican noted that there “could be protests outside the court and there may be people who do not want to pass those protests”.
She moved cases to alternate dates to accommodate the situation, “unless there is a resolution by then”.
Legal aid practitioners, who are assigned by the court to represent people of limited means accused of crimes, have been campaigning for a rise in the fees paid to members for representing those clients.
Solicitors, barristers, and senior counsel may all be assigned under the legal aid system, depending on the court in which a trial is to be held.
A huge percentage of the cases which come before the courts in Limerick and nationally are represented by members of the legal profession acting under the legal aid system of payment.
The fees were cut in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008 and criminal barristers argue that they have suffered a pay cut, in real terms, of more than 40 per cent in the last 20 years.
The Council of the Bar of Ireland said that fees payable to criminal barristers remained at 2002 levels, “despite the ongoing delivery of efficiencies and reforms by the profession”.
The Bar said it has “engaged with consecutive Governments on this matter, but no progress has been made despite barristers delivering at least the same level of reform and flexibility delivered by other professional groups for whom cuts have been reversed.”
“Following engagement with its members over the last number of months, the Council of The Bar of Ireland has now formally written to the Government to notify it of its recommendation to members to implement an initial one-day withdrawal of services on Tuesday October 3 2023 in pursuit of a meaningful, independent, and time-limited mechanism to determine fees payable to barristers by the DPP and under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Scheme.”
