‘It’s a siege mentality’: Minister accused of downplaying disruption caused by solicitors' strike

Daniel Kreith: 'I think the minister seems to have forgotten about the Victims' Charter, where the State has a duty to victims of crime, to have their cases dealt with as expeditiously as possible.'

Solicitors across the country who have withdrawn legal aid services en masse are digging in, as their dispute with the justice minister over legal aid fees escalates with neither side showing any sign of backing down.

The industrial action started last month in protest against the new flat fee model introduced on July 1 by Jim O’Callaghan, which pays solicitors €520 per case regardless of the number of court appearances. 

The new fee replaces a per-appearance system. The old system saw solicitors receive €240 per defendant for the first two cases, €144 for each additional case on the first day, and €60 for each subsequent hearing day.

As the criminal court system is at a standstill, the Department of Justice has been accused of seeking to “downplay the scale of this disruption” by the Law Society of Ireland, instead of "engaging constructively" with the solicitors.

Mr O’Callaghan said on Wednesday that it is “deeply regrettable that certain solicitors have decided to withdraw their services in full today".

"This action will result in the unnecessary adjournment of court proceedings which will negatively impact on any person who finds themselves in contact with the criminal justice system," he said.

Whilst Mr O’Callaghan is not backing down, neither are solicitors across the country. Dozens of cases were adjourned in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday. In Limerick, a “vast majority” of solicitors have also withdrawn their services to varying degrees for cases involving legal aid.

Solicitor Daniel Kreith claimed Mr O'Callaghan is hoping legal firms will not be able to survive continuing with the strike financially. "As it presently stands, it's a siege mentality. He’s hoping he’ll be able to hold out longer than the practitioners will,” he stated.

Mr Kreith added some people are falling “between the cracks” due to the ongoing dispute, which has a “knock-on effect” on victims of crime.

“For more sensitive cases, I've basically advised some of my clients to go into custody and surrender their bail, to allow their sentences to proceed to prevent stress to families. I think the minister seems to have forgotten about the Victims' Charter, where the State has a duty to victims of crime, to have their cases dealt with as expeditiously as possible.” 

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From the outset, Limerick solicitor Tom Kiely and his firm have been supportive of the withdrawal from legal aid services. They have seen a lot of their cases being adjourned to September and October. 

“We had hoped some sort of meaningful negotiations would take place and that some of the concerns would be addressed. They were quite simply ignored,” Mr Kiely said.

Mr Kiely said the system put forward is “utterly unsustainable” long-term, as the payment model suggests the fee applies per client — no matter the number of court appearances. 

“That makes absolutely no sense. What if you're obliged to transfer files? You will not get paid for what could be a significant amount of work up to that stage. Solicitors are being asked to accept instructions in circumstances where they're not guaranteed any payment at all,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has said the withdrawal of service by criminal defence solicitors is not justified, and is unfair to "all involved".