Mick Clifford: Does crime pay? Legal aid changes are unfair to solicitors and suspects alike

If justice minister Jim O’Callaghan believes that many solicitors are effectively gaming the legal aid system to maximise income, he must know that the new system can equally be gamed, but with serious implications for basic rights

When asked by how many adjournments in a departmental study were the fault of the solicitor, justice minister Jim O'Callaghan said: 'Many of them are the fault of the solicitor and many are the fault of the prosecution'

There is no money in crime. That’s what Jim O’Callaghan was told when he showed up at the Four Courts, starting out his working life as a barrister. If you want to make some real cash, stick to the civil law side of the legal business.

So the justice minister related to the Oireachtas justice committee this week in the course of explaining why he was reshaping the means by which legal aid for criminal work will be paid.