THE LAW SOCIETY of Ireland has said that only a small fraction of solicitors it has surveyed plan on remaining on the legal aid panel under a controversial new scheme.

The body for Ireland’s solicitors on Tuesday urged the justice minister to engage with the organisation to find a solution to the impasse.

Out of 260 solicitors it polled, just three said they’d be staying on in the Criminal Legal Aid panel, with the new regime taking effect on 1 July.

There are just under 13,000 practising solicitors registered with the Law Society but the straw poll underscores the mounting dispute between justice minister Jim O’Callaghan and the legal profession.

At present, solicitors are paid around €240 for the first appearance and about €60 for each subsequent sitting, but the new system would instead see a single payment of €520 regardless of the number of court appearances.

“Solicitors are resigning from the Criminal Legal Aid panel in unprecedented numbers,” said Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus.

Loftus said that a “large and growing” number have also stopped providing services under the “structurally unworkable” new legal aid scheme.

She accused the department of justice of “replicating a model that has already failed in family law”, claiming that it “drove solicitors out of this area of practice and created legal deserts” as a result.

This has also caused, according to Loftus, the Legal Aid Board to report it cannot maintain a consistent nationwide service.

“Replicating it in criminal law will predictably produce the same exodus,” the Law Society president added.

Minister resists pressure

But the minister has insisted he is not for turning, saying on Monday that the scrapped system was one encouraged adjournments “because you get paid more” with each appearance in a case.

O’Callaghan said that the €520 flat fee is a significant increase on the old model, covering the average of five court appearances, and that it should “encourage the quick determination of simple cases” in the district court.

Loftus said that the new scheme proposes not making any payment until the very end of a case, which she said would mean in practice that it could take months for a firm to get paid.

“This is not viable for many small legal practices,” she said.

The group said the new criminal legal aid scheme fails to create exemptions for “vulnerable” groups, including categories of cases where the length of proceedings are often considerably longer.

“A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work,” Loftus said.

“This includes cases involving children, where the court exercises a more supervisory, rehabilitative type role. And it includes cases involving people with mental health or capacity issues, where fitness to plead issues can arise.”

Thousands of District Court cases were adjourned in recent days after criminal defence solicitors withdrew their services in protest over the changes to how they are paid, leading to delays and knock-on impacts across the criminal justice system.

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With reporting by Mairead Maguire