{"id":520718,"date":"2026-06-27T05:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520718\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T05:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:23:17","slug":"hard-to-overstate-the-level-of-anger-with-new-pay-model-among-solicitors-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520718\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hard to overstate\u2019 the level of anger with new pay model among solicitors \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new payment model for criminal legal aid cases in the District Courts due to come in to effect next week may exacerbate an \u201calready challenging\u201d legal aid situation, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

Chief commissioner Liam Herrick was speaking outside the Courts of Criminal Justice on Friday in support of the Law Society<\/a>\u2019s call for \u201cmeaningful\u201d engagement with the Department of Justice about criminal legal aid reform. <\/p>\n

The Bar of Ireland, Free Legal Aid Centres, Irish Penal Reform Trust and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties also expressed support.<\/p>\n

More than 100 criminal legal aid solicitors gathered outside the court on Friday bearing placards opposing the department\u2019s plan, bearing slogans such as \u201cDublin will become a legal aid desert\u201d. <\/p>\n

Thousands of criminal cases continue to be adjourned daily due to the continuing withdrawal of services by criminal legal aid solicitors, now in its second week. <\/p>\n

Several rape trials listed at the Central Criminal Court<\/a> next Monday look set to be among the cases affected. <\/p>\n

The solicitors are strongly opposed to the department\u2019s proposal to introduce a single flat fee payment model for legal aid cases in the District Courts.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cork solicitors withdraw from legal aid scheme for criminal workOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Criminal defence solicitors agreed last Monday, on an individual basis, not to act in new custody cases from midnight but continue to act in custody cases where they are already assigned. They agreed not to attend Garda stations, or provide phone advice to people in custody, from midnight on Monday and not to make themselves available for evening courts, Saturday courts or special sittings.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus said it was \u201chard to overstate\u201d the level of anger among solicitors about the department\u2019s proposals. <\/p>\n

She said it was \u201cdeeply alarming\u201d the Government was \u201cproposing a 20 per cent cut in criminal legal aid\u201d and seeking to impose a flat fee payment model that \u201cdemonstrably failed\u201d in family law, causing an exodus of solicitors from family law legal aid panels, she said.<\/p>\n

Loftus said she had \u201cevery empathy\u201d for judges and those managing the courts during the \u201cuntoward upheaval\u201d caused by the withdrawal of services.<\/p>\n

However, the issues involved are \u201cfundamental to the vulnerable in society whom solicitors represent and their ability to access a fair and appropriate trial and appropriate representation\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n

Bar council chairman Sean Guerin said the two issues of most concern to the department, the number of legal aid certificates issued in an individual case and the number of adjournments are already provided for in existing legal aid regulations. <\/p>\n

The department needs to \u201cput in place systems that are capable of managing the existing regulatory environment\u201d, he said. The Bar and Law Society would co-operate in those reforms \u201cto ensure the system operates as intended\u201d. <\/p>\n

The department\u2019s \u201cfailure\u201d to manage those systems \u201cis not an excuse for undercutting essential funding for a core public service\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

Liam Herrick said the commission was \u201cvery mindful\u201d of existing challenges of access to justice and delays in the system, both for accused people persons and victims.<\/p>\n

While the commission understood why the Government felt change might be necessary, it was concerned the changes may have \u201cunintended consequences in exacerbating an already challenging situation\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

The department said its officials had constructive engagement last week with the Law Society, there was further engagement since \u201cand in the circumstances, it would not be appropriate for the department to comment further at this time\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is \u201cregrettable\u201d that some solicitors have withdrawn their services as discussions were continuing, a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Asked for clarification whether the new model would provide for one flat fee of \u20ac582, based on an average six appearances, rather than a \u20ac455 fee initially referred to, a department spokesman said it had no further comment at this time.<\/p>\n

Its proposals are to replace the current payments system based on appearances with one flat-fee for representation from the start to the end of a case. <\/p>\n

They follow an internal department review of about 350,000 District Court cases during 2022 and 2023 that noted expenditure on criminal legal aid in the District Court rose from \u20ac19 million in 2015 to \u20ac37 million in 2024. The current fees structure, the review said, incentivised solicitors to seek multiple hearings. <\/p>\n

The Law Society has described the review as \u201cseriously flawed\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new payment model for criminal legal aid cases in the District Courts due to come in to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42851,9691,61,60,16090,19394,43],"class_list":["post-520718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-central-criminal-court","tag-department-of-justice","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-human-rights-and-equality-commission","tag-law-society","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}