‘It shows how serious we are’

Solicitors are to continue with their withdrawal of services under the new criminal legal aid payment scheme introduced by Justice Minister, Jim O’Callaghan, despite changes to the scheme announced by the minister last week.

Thirty-three of the 34 solicitors on the criminal legal aid panel in Tipperary have resigned from the panel.

“For a county of Tipperary’s size, the fact that all but one person has resigned, it’s significant. It shows how serious we are about the issue,” stressed Solicitor Elizabeth McKeever of Nenagh as to why solicitors in Tipperary have decided to take this action.

Solicitors are concerned that the new legal aid payment scheme will pose a number of issues to their work going forward, especially if a client decides to change solicitor midway through their case, which would leave a solicitor without payment. Similarly, only getting paid at the end of a case would also cause significant cashflow issues to legal firms.

One of the reasons this flat fee payment system was introduced, according to Minister O’Callaghan, was to mitigate against the amount of adjournments sought by solicitors for legal aid cases.

“There is a huge amount of reasons that a case is adjourned,” Ms McKeever pointed out. “It’s very rare, in my opinion, that cases are adjourned purely on the application of the defendant.”

ONGOING STRIKES

“On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (July 22-24), this was a nationwide withdrawal but for Tipperary in particular, no solicitors attended any criminal court,” stated Ms McKeever as to how this strike has progressed over the past month.

Although some work has continued in Nenagh District Court in an effort to facilitate people’s right to have their case dealt with, solicitors in Nenagh have not received any legal aid payments for this work.

“Since the first of July, no solicitor in Nenagh has made any claim for legal aid on any case, even though we have carried out work,” stated Ms McKeever, highlighting how solicitors have continued to work on juvenile and in custody cases before they decided to fully withdraw their services last week.

‘I WANT TO GET BACK TO WORK’

Speaking as a solicitor in Nenagh who has practiced for the past 37 years, Ms McKeever stressed that she did not wish to be on strike.

“For me personally, I want to get back to work. I’m really concerned about the backlog in cases. I have clients ringing me from prison. You get to know these people, and they are in vulnerable situations,” she stressed.

“There isn’t a huge amount of sympathy out there sometimes for defendants, but when you meet the individuals involved, everyone has a different story.”

Similarly, as a local solicitor, Ms McKeever expressed her regret that solicitors in Nenagh were disrupting work in Nenagh District Court as a result of these strikes.

“I enjoy the camaraderie that we have in court with our colleagues. We all get on very well and work very well in Nenagh and that’s why it is particularly difficult then for us to be obstructing things at the moment as solicitors,” she expressed.

“We are the reason cases are being adjourned at the moment due to the strikes. Personally, I find that difficult, I’d love to be back working, and I am concerned about the backlog when we go back working,” she said.

‘JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED’

Meanwhile, Nenagh TD and Labour’s justice spokesperson Alan Kelly has criticised the Minister for Justice for “failing to adequately prepare, consult and engage with members of the Law Society before announcing sweeping changes to the payment system for criminal aid cases”.

Deputy Kelly said: “Justice delayed is justice denied and that is the reality for too many people whose cases have been delayed as a result of the ongoing dispute over changes to the criminal legal aid payment system. The situation should never have been allowed to escalate to this point.”

While he welcomed the minister’s willingness to consider an interim payment arrangement, Deputy Kelly said this engagement should have happened much earlier. “At the same time, given the significant impact this dispute has had on the operation of the courts, it is crucial that all parties now engage constructively and in good faith to reach a resolution,” Deputy Kelly said.

“Every additional adjournment undermines confidence in the justice system and prolongs uncertainty for accused persons, victims and their families alike.”