CRIMINAL SOLICITORS ONCE again walked out of the District Courts in Dublin today as their dispute with Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan over his new ‘flat fee’ model for legal aid cases continues.

The new payment model, which came into effect on 1 July, means solicitors receive a fee of €520 per legal aid client regardless of how many court appearances the case ends up consisting of or how many different charges are brought.

Solicitors are demanding that O’Callaghan backtrack on key elements of the model, which they say is “not feasible” and could leave them “working for free” on complex cases requiring many different appearances.

Amanda Connolly, managing partner at Connolly Finan Fleming Solicitors, said the dispute is “a turning point in the criminal justice system”.

“Nobody else works for free. If we go to court, the gardaí get paid, prison officers get paid, judges get paid, cleaners get paid, court staff get paid. But we’re expected to work for free and run a business at the same time,” Connolly said.

She added that the new model demonstrates “a complete lack of understanding in relation to how the criminal law actually works, and how the system works as a whole”.

A vote by criminal defence solicitors to keep up their withdrawal of services through September means that the existing backlog of cases that is putting a huge strain on the system will worse.

Court lists are back to a more normal schedule today after reduced sittings during the summer period. 

There were chaotic scenes in the foyer of the central criminal courts today as the solicitors filed out onto the steps.

A man who had been detained following a public order-related incident was released on bail. He had no solicitor present representing him, and there was no Arabic interpreter present so no one could understand what the man was saying, despite the fact that he was screaming loudly throughout his court appearance and was carried out of the court by gardaí, while still screaming.

He proceeded to strip naked in the middle of the foyer on being released, and was once again detained by gardaí.

One of the striking solicitors who witnessed the incident said that the courts do not want to further detain people who do not have any representation. 

“These are exactly the kind of cases that involve many more appearances than the flat fee the Minister is offering covers, and they also involve dealing with people’s relatives,” she added.

It’s clear that the dispute is bringing the legal system at large to a halt – already deferred hearings were pushed back to December in some cases today – but on their end the solicitors, who say they “want to get back to work”, have no intention of stepping down without key concessions being made.

“We hope that the Minister will engage with the Law Society sooner rather than later to resolve this, this is resulting in backlogs and people being denied access to justice, it’s impacting victims, accused persons and putting an extra cost on the State,” Tony Collier, a partner in Ferrys Solicitors said.

Speaking recently on The Journal political podcast The Candidate O’Callaghan claimed that every time he “makes a concession” the Law Society asks for more.