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\nSolicitors walking out of Dublin District Court in protest at the new payment model<\/p>\n
There will be a significant escalation in the criminal defence solicitors dispute this week with a complete stoppage planned for two days.<\/p>\n
The increasingly bitter row over the Minister for Justice’s bid to cut legal aid fees will see all criminal defence solicitors withdraw their services in the District Court, Circuit Court and the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.<\/p>\n
And solicitors are threatening a further withdrawal of services during the final week of the legal term from 27 to 31 July 27.<\/p>\n
The row was sparked by Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan moving to replace the previous payment system with a new flat-fee model.<\/p>\n
Most defendant solicitors were paid for each court appearance, starting at just under \u20ac240 and then \u20ac60 for each subsequent hearing.<\/p>\n
From 1 July, a new set fee of \u20ac520 will be payable regardless of how many court appearances there are – removing the link between payments and the number of appearances for solicitors.<\/p>\n
Tony Collier, partner at Ferrys Solicitors, said solicitors were very concerned that the dispute was being misrepresented by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
He said the dispute was sparked by the imposition of a new model of legal aid without proper consultation with solicitors.<\/p>\n
“This action being taken by solicitors is to encourage the Minister to engage fully with the solicitors\u2019 representative, the Law Society.”<\/p>\n
According to the Department of Justice, 179 solicitors have resigned from the panel, amounting to just over one in five members.<\/p>\n
\nSolicitors walking out of Dublin District Court in protest at the new payment model<\/p>\n
This figure drops to 17% when those with zero earnings are excluded.<\/p>\n
New figures also show that the number of criminal legal aid certificates issued in the first two weeks of this month has fallen to 174.<\/p>\n
This marks a major drop in the estimated average of 3,000 which would usually be seen in this time period.<\/p>\n
However, the Department of Justice has said that this confirms that the system is working.<\/p>\n
This is disputed by the Law Society, which describes the drop as a “collapse”.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Law Society said: “The Department has stated that just 174 certificates issued since 1 July. In comparison, 98,230 legal aid certificates were issued in 2024 and 98,617 in 2025 – an average of about 1,800 per week, or 3,600 over an average two-week period.<\/p>\n
“Measured against this baseline, the current figures represent a collapse of over 90% in the volume of certificates being issued, indicating that cases are not progressing through the court system.”<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said it was “very disappointing that the Department of Justice appears to be seeking to downplay the scale of this disruption and its impact on court users, rather than engaging constructively with the concerns raised by solicitors”.<\/p>\n
The Department also says that it is examining certificates for payment submitted by some solicitors who had stated they had withdrawn their services under the criminal legal aid scheme.<\/p>\n