Meetings in Dublin and Cork of more than 300 criminal defence solicitors on Monday heard calls to intensify nationwide action over a proposed new criminal legal aid payment model for the District Court, due to come into effect this week.
The escalation action, including a possible mass withdrawal of solicitors from criminal legal aid panels, could mean a total shutdown of criminal legal aid services, one source warned.
Thousands of criminal cases continue to be adjourned daily due to the continuing withdrawal of services by criminal legal aid solicitors, now in its third week.
Further immediate meetings will be held this week to decide on the next step in the increasingly bitter dispute between solicitors and the Department of Justice.
Sources said solicitors at Monday’s meeting in Dublin were “livid” their representative body, the Law Society, was only informed via an email received about 70 minutes after the meeting began of revised reform proposals from Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, including a €520 flat fee payment, rather than the €455 fee previously pitched.
The proposals will be outlined by the Minister to the justice committee on Tuesday.
It is understood he will say the new model will have the €520 payable to solicitors for District Court cases regardless of the number of appearances or number of charges in a case.
The fee covers representation from the beginning to the end of the case, though a separate €520 will be paid to an assigned solicitor where a person appears on subsequent charges.
Monday’s meeting in Dublin was called so solicitors could be updated by the society about engagement with the department.
Criminal defence solicitor Tony Collier said solicitors were “furious” the Law Society “has been treated with contempt” by the department.
The department’s email about the revised proposals was sent in reply to a letter of June 18th from the Law Society, he said.
“The email seems to be under the misapprehension that the fault for delays in District Court cases lies with defence solicitors,” he said. “This is patently false and is not even borne out by the department’s own review. Solicitors do not accept that at all and are as eager as any stakeholder in the criminal justice system to introduce efficiencies and improve work practices.” The Department was contacted for comment.
At a separate meeting, solicitors in Cork also threatened to step up their industrial action and withdraw from the panel if the Minister proceeded on Wednesday with the new fee.
According to lawyer Tom Coughlan the 50 or so solicitors on the criminal free legal aid panel in Cork City and county, have agreed to resign from the panel from Wednesday.
“We had a meeting this morning with up to 20 practitioners, who are representative of 90 per cent of the solicitors on the criminal legal free aid panel in the city and county, and we will resign from the panel if the Minister for Justice unilaterally proceeds to impose his one flat fee proposal on July 1st,” he said.
“The Minister says that he is trying to effect savings in the free legal aid scheme – well, he’s going to achieve a 100 per cent reduction in costs in the scheme in Cork because there will be no one on the panel here if he goes ahead and introduces a scheme that none of us are willing to participate in.”
Up to 250 District Court cases a day would have to be adjourned at Cork District Court, as a consequence. The current Cork Circuit Criminal sessions have seen over 80 sentencing cases adjourned to date and it is expected by the end of the session on July 10th, some 250 sentencing hearings will have been adjourned.
At Cork District Court on Monday, solicitor Joe Cuddigan informed Judge Miriam Walsh of the proposed escalation and predicted it will have a big impact on the operation of both the district and circuit courts.
“In the event of the Minister for Justice crossing the Rubicon and signing the statutory instrument putting his unilateral proposals into effect on Wednesday, we are all resigning from the panel en masse. This may cause chaos and turmoil which we regret but it is not a matter of our choosing.”
At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, solicitor Aiden Desmond informed the court of the solicitors’ potential withdrawal. Judge Dermot Sheehan described the situation as “a mess” but acknowledged that was the reality.
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