Judge warns of “far reaching ramifications” in legal aid dispute

A district court judge has warned that people in custody could potentially be continually remanded in prison due to the ongoing dispute between the government and solicitors over changes to the legal aid scheme.

Last month, solicitors across the country withdrew their services for the majority of criminal law cases. The dispute centres on the introduction of a flat fee per client regardless of the number of hearings involved in a case. These changes are due to come into effect today.

Speaking at a sitting of Castlerea District Court, Judge James Faughnan was told that the solicitors were withdrawing their legal aid services. In dealing with matters, he was told an accused in custody had no legal representation, and he remanded him. However, he said that there was “the potential” that someone in custody could be remanded while they could be applying for bail, adding, “if this goes to where I think it is going, we are going to need a lot more cells and rooms”.

Judge Faughnan said the action had “far reaching ramifications” and stated there was a need for bail hearings to be dealt with by professionals. He stated that trials were being held up after learning that a book of evidence could not be served on a defendant. He was also told that this is expected to be a protracted dispute.

“This is not my business (the withdrawal of services), but it will have a knock-on effect,” as he went on to adjourn most of the cases on the list.

A statement issued on behalf of Roscommon Bar Association said individual solicitors in the county have advised the Court Service that there will be a complete withdrawal of services due to the ongoing dispute.

“During the financial emergency in 2009 there were cuts made to payments to solicitors under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme. While these cuts were reversed for all public servants starting in 2020 they have never been reversed for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme,” it said. “There have been negotiations ongoing to try to have these cuts reversed for years to no avail. Instead the department has decided to unilaterally impose further changes to the scheme without consultation and simply expect solicitors to ‘take it or leave it’.” 

“Solicitors provide essential services to people and the State has certain obligations to protect and vindicate peoples’ rights. Furthermore, solicitors employ hundreds of people in every county of Ireland. It would be unheard of for such significant changes to be introduced in any other sector in such a highhanded and unilateral fashion and ignoring the concerns and opinions of the very people that they expect to implement this scheme,” the statement said.