Criminal barristers 'at breaking point' to strike for pay restoration

Those striking will be picketing outside Ireland’s various criminal courts. Senior counsel Tom Creed will be picketing at the Cork Courthouse on Washington Street. Picture: Denis Minihane

A strike by criminal barristers today over legal aid fees is a clear indication that the system “is at breaking point”, practitioners have said.

With fees for criminal barristers hovering around the levels paid in 2002, young professionals are lasting only six years on average before leaving the job, junior counsel and chair of the Irish Criminal Bar Association Simon Donagh said.