{"id":659878,"date":"2026-10-20T01:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/659878\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T01:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:36:09","slug":"rape-trials-only-cases-deliberately-affected-by-striking-solicitors-jim-ocallaghan-to-tell-oireachtas-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/659878\/","title":{"rendered":"Rape trials only cases \u2018deliberately affected\u2019 by striking solicitors, Jim O\u2019Callaghan to tell Oireachtas \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rape trials were the only cases \u201cdeliberately affected\u201d by the withdrawal of services by some solicitors on Monday, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan <\/a>will tell the Oireachtas on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Many defence solicitors, particularly in Dublin, withdrew legal aid services in July after a new flat fee system for District Court cases was introduced.<\/p>\n

The dispute ramped up on Monday with the withdrawal of services expanding to cases including custody and children\u2019s cases.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan is due to appear before the Oireachtas justice committee to be quizzed on the dispute.<\/p>\n

In his opening statement, seen by The Irish Times, O\u2019Callaghan will say six cases were adjourned on the previous day and \u201cevery one of these was a case involving an allegation of rape\u201d. <\/p>\n

He will express \u201cdeep concern that the only cases deliberately affected by the withdrawal of services in the Central Criminal Court <\/a>yesterday [Monday] were those involving allegations of rape. I believe this committee and indeed the public are entitled to an answer as to why this is the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Huge rise in claims of unlawful detention linked to withdrawal of solicitors\u2019 servicesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Criminal defence solicitor Michael Finucane rejected any suggestion rape or any specific cases were targeted by solicitors. \u201cThis is a full withdrawal of services in all criminal cases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minister was warned by solicitors and the Law Society well in advance [that] this would happen, that complainants could face extended disruption and possible retraumatisation. No one regrets more that this has come to pass than solicitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan insisted he would not revoke the new regulations at the centre of the row and will mount a defence of his changes to the system brought in last July.<\/p>\n

He will maintain the system is operating nationwide, that legal aid continues to be granted by the courts, with about 3,400 legal aid certificates issued since July.<\/p>\n

He will, however, \u201cacknowledge\u201d that, particularly in Dublin, a \u201cnumber of solicitors have withdrawn services\u201d which has \u201cimpacted on court hearings\u201d, and describe this as \u201cregrettable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite this, in the Central Criminal Court yesterday, the majority of cases proceeded without issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, justice committee chairman Matt Carthy, a Sinn F\u00e9in TD, argued the escalation of the dispute was \u201centirely avoidable\u201d as he claimed O\u2019Callaghan had failed to \u201cmeaningfully\u201d engage in resolution efforts.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan said he has engaged with the Law Society on the matter and would do so again.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Judge \u2018coerced\u2019 into adjourning six rape and sexual offences trials as solicitors withdrawOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He said he will not revoke the new regulations but said he is happy to \u201ctweak\u201d them \u201cif there\u2019s a necessity to do so\u201d and he would \u201cengage with the Law Society in respect of that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Criminal defence solicitor Tony Collier said, while the Minister had indicated the courts are working effectively throughout the dispute, significant backlogs have occurred \u201cto such a point that the Chief Justice has expressed his concern\u201d.<\/p>\n

He welcomed O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s indication that he is prepared to examine particular issues but said any \u201ctinkering\u201d would have to be \u201cin the context of a full and proper engagement with the Law Society\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rape trials were the only cases \u201cdeliberately affected\u201d by the withdrawal of services by some solicitors on Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,18573,19394,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-659878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-law-society","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659878","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=659878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}