{"id":528844,"date":"2026-07-02T05:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/528844\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T05:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:59:13","slug":"solicitors-walk-out-of-courtrooms-in-protest-over-flat-fee-changes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/528844\/","title":{"rendered":"Solicitors walk out of courtrooms in protest over flat-fee changes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of solicitors walked out of District Court rooms on Wednesday in protest over the introduction of a controversial new payment system<\/a> for criminal legal aid. <\/p>\n

In Dublin up to 60 solicitors left the Criminal Courts of Justice<\/a>, the country\u2019s busiest courthouse, amid the deepening row with the Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> who has pushed the reform through. <\/p>\n

The move came at the beginning of a serious alleged arson case involving a man, entitled to free legal aid, and accused of a petrol bomb attack on a mosque in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Solicitor Tracy Horan told Judge Michele Finan she had acted for the accused but regretfully could not represent him now as a result of the ongoing dispute. <\/p>\n

Under the new payment model solicitors will receive a flat one-off legal aid fee of \u20ac520 irrespective of how many appearances they make to represent a client in District Court cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you will be aware, there is an ongoing and significant dispute,\u201d Horan told the judge. \u201cDespite sustained efforts by the Law Society of Ireland to engage constructively on these matters, the new arrangements have been introduced without meaningful consultation or agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those circumstances, and until such time as the Minister engages constructively with the Law Society of Ireland with a view to resolving the issues arising, I regret that I am unable to accept assignments under the new scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finan told her she was aware of the position and that the court knows \u201cit is the very last action that any individual solicitor here wishes to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of solicitors were present in the packed courtroom in support at the time, and all then walked out of the building. <\/p>\n

In Cork about 50 solicitors are on the legal aid panel. On Wednesday morning at the Anglesea Street Courthouse in the city about 20 left the building after informing judges they were withdrawing from the panel.<\/p>\n

Solicitor Frank Buttimer told incoming Judge David Waters it was a \u201csource of deep regret\u201d but they had been left with no alternative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the disruption it will cause to the courts, but we believe it is not of our making as we have been forced into this position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Buttimer said the only way to resolve the issue was for O\u2019Callaghan to negotiate an agreement with the Law Society, the solicitors\u2019 representative body.<\/p>\n

The walkout meant all criminal cases in Cork District Court and Cork Circuit Criminal Court were adjourned. <\/p>\n

The Department of Justice said the Minister had signed off on the new regulations on Monday following \u201cextensive engagement\u201d with the Law Society and the Bar Council. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe one flat fee of \u20ac520 will be paid for representation from beginning to end of a case. This will remove the link between payments and the number of appearances, or defendants represented on a given day,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis reform will simplify administration, incentivise timely case resolution without affecting quality of representation, protect access to justice, and ensure fair remuneration for legal practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, an 8 per cent increase in criminal legal aid fees is to apply for cases heard in the Circuit and higher courts.<\/p>\n

The Law Society has described the fee measure as a \u201ccost-cutting exercise dressed up as reform\u201d and is based on \u201cflawed assumptions\u201d from the Department of Justice. It said solicitors were angry at how the department has handled the situation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Law Society\u2019s position is unchanged and clear: any reform of criminal legal aid should be workable, fair and evidence based. This proposal is none of those things and the fundamental concerns the Law Society has outlined have not been addressed.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of solicitors walked out of District Court rooms on Wednesday in protest over the introduction of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[46,5721,61,60,18573,19394,43],"class_list":["post-528844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork","tag-district-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-law-society","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528844","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=528844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}