THE WHEELS of justice could grind to a halt from tomorrow (Tuesday) as senior members of the legal profession down tools in a row about legal aid fees.
Criminal barristers, including those handling legal aid cases, will withdraw their services on October 3 in support of their claims that fees remain below 2002 levels in nominal terms, following a range of cuts applied during the financial emergency.
They say the profession has suffered a pay cut in real terms of more than 40 per cent over the past 20 years while every other group of workers in the criminal justice system has seen pay restoration implemented.
The one-day withdrawal of service has been recommended in pursuit of a mechanism to determine the fees payable to barristers by the Director of Public Prosecutions and under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) scheme.
Speaking during a recent court sitting, Judge Carol Ann Coolican warned the courts could grind to a halt in the city and county on the day.
Judge Coolican, at the time, noted that there “could be protests outside the court and there may be people (legal professionals) who do not want to pass those protests”.
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 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”.
