Barristers to protest over failure to reverse cuts to criminal legal aid fees

Barristers will take to the steps of the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin and other courthouses on Tuesday to protest over the Government’s failure to reverse cuts to District Court criminal legal aid fees imposed during the financial crisis.

Barrister Darren Lalor, one of the organisers of the protest, listed to run from 10am to 3pm, said barristers practicing in criminal cases 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 for a full trial hearing.

Those fee levels arise from cuts of 28 per cent upwards imposed between 2008-2011 under emergency legislation reducing public sector pay.

In a message to barristers last Friday, Bar Council chair Sara Phelan SC said the council’s efforts to secure reversal of the criminal legal aid fee cuts have been under way for seven years.

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For reasons “that have never been explained”, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has “ignored” the recommendations of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Department of Justice concerning the need to address the council’s claim for restoration of the fees “and has refused to engage with the council”, she said.

“That Department’s failure is a direct threat to the maintenance of the highest standards in the administration of criminal justice in this country,” she wrote.

[ Why criminal barristers could be on the verge of unprecedented industrial action ]

A series of meetings for members “to discuss a response to that threat” will be arranged in the coming weeks, she added.

Ms Phelan said the council has noted the continued frustration of members who conduct criminal cases, both for the prosecution, instructed by the DPP, and on behalf of accused people, paid under the Department of Justice Criminal Justice Legal Aid scheme.

That frustration is being expressed by a number of members through the protest taking place on May 2nd, she said.

While the protest is not a council event, “and members of the Bar will be expected to honour their court commitments as usual”, the council anticipates many members will want to take the opportunity on the day to express their frustration with the Government’s failure to engage on the question of restoration of fees, she said.

The council “understands and supports those members who do so and members of the Council will be joining the protest between 10-10.30am”, she said.

In a message to its members, the specialist Irish Criminal Bar Association (ICBA) said while the protest is not an ICBA or Bar of Ireland event, it demonstrates the increasing frustration felt by all members over the failure to reverse the cuts and said members may wish to show solidarity particularly between 10am-10.30am.

Welcoming the Bar Council’s decision to hold meetings on the matter over the coming weeks, the ICBA said it “reflects a growing sentiment among members that more needs to be done to achieve the restoration”.

In a statement, Mr Lalor said: “Fear that there is no future in a profession must no longer be met by an ‘ah sure, we’ll wait and see’ attitude.”

The 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”, he said.

“Victims of crime will not be satisfied to learn that prosecution lawyers are paid at 2002 rates,” he 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. It is time to shout ‘stop’.”