LAST UPDATE | 2 May 2023
BARRISTERS HAVE TAKEN to the court steps across the country today in protest against pay for some of their members.
The demonstration centres around the fees paid to barristers practicing in the District Court under the criminal legal aid scheme.
Barristers are calling for the restoration of cuts imposed during the recession. At present those practicing in the district court are paid €25.20 for a remand hearing, €50.40 for a plea in mitigation at a sentence hearing and €67.50 where a matter goes to a full trial.
The district court is the lowest court in the Irish legal system, usually dealing with less serious criminal matters and public order offences, as well as family law. In criminal matters, punishments can range from poor box fines to sentences of up to two years imprisonment.
This means prosecution lawyers are effectively “paid at 2002 rates”, according to the statement from the group advocating for better pay.
Without this, students currently law have “the odds stacked against them” in their hopes to enter into the profession.
The group also called on Justice Minister Simon Harris to show his backing for the protest.
“The Irish state has turned its back on the future of barristers practicing at district court level, on victims of crime, and on those wrongly accused by withholding the overdue restoration of cuts imposed long ago in that time of financial emergency,” the group said.
“Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. Fear that there is no future in a profession must no longer be met by an “ah sure we’ll wait and see” attitude.”
Barristers are protesting between 10am and 3pm today.
Last year, barristers held a similar protested over conditions, gathering at entrances to courthouses countrywide to air their concerns.
“Victims of crime will not be satisfied to learn that prosecution lawyers are paid at 2002 rates,” the group said.
“Any wrongly accused person qualifying for legal aid defence services must be entitled to have those services adequately funded. Fee rates from 2002 cannot provide that funding.”
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