Opposition parties and lawyers have rounded on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan after he suggested lawyers were deliberately affecting rape trials with a withdrawal of services in a long-running battle over reform of criminal legal aid.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the comments “risk further embedding a serious impasse”.
O’Callaghan dropped a per-appearance fee system in the District Court in favour of a flat fee approach over the summer, leading to a withdrawal of services by many solicitors.
The dispute escalated on Monday with the withdrawal of services expanding to cases including custody and children’s cases. Six rape and sexual offence trials involving accused people on bail were adjourned on Monday.
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On Monday, he suggested rape trials were being “deliberately affected” by solicitors withdrawing their services. He is expected to repeat the concerns at a meeting of the justice committee on Tuesday.
Speaking on the Leinster House plinth on Tuesday, Sinn Féin justice spokesman and chair of the Oireachtas justice committee Matt Carthy said O’Callaghan was providing a “textbook example as to how not to deal with a dispute”.
O’Callaghan’s comments were “deliberately provocative”, he claimed.
“We’re coming to the stage where we will see people who should be in prison at large,” he said, adding that others would have strong cases to have their convictions overturned due to the dispute.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said O’Callaghan needs to “get over himself”, accusing him of “weaponising victims of rape” with his comments.
He said O’Callaghan was guilty of “Malcolm Tucker-esque spin”, and of “actively escalating the dispute”.
Social Democrats justice spokesman Gary Gannon said the Minister’s statement was an “absolute disgrace”.
“I think it’s an absolute shame that the Minister chose to pursue that language,” he said, adding O’Callaghan was “behaving erratically” and was “an impediment to a conclusion of this”.
Labour Party justice spokesman Alan Kelly accused O’Callaghan of a “Rambo-style” approach in elevating the conflict, comparing it to his announcement that the Army would be deployed during fuel protests at Easter.
The Tipperary North TD said O’Callaghan was now “throwing fuel on the fire” of the dispute with his comments.
Meanwhile, O’Callaghan’s claim that solicitors sought to “deliberately” affect rape cases in the Central Criminal Court was described as “false” and “misleading” by one solicitor.
Criminal defence solicitor Eoghan O’Sullivan, a partner at Powderly Solicitors, insisted “there was no deliberate targeting” of rape cases.
“It is beneath the dignity of the office of the Minister for Justice to try to accuse criminal defence solicitors of such a deliberate act,” he said.
“His claim is not only risible but wholly inaccurate.
“This is a full withdrawal of services. There has been no deliberate targeting of rape cases.”
Asked about O’Sullivan’s comments, a spokeswoman for O’Callaghan said he “looks forward to addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee this afternoon.”
In a statement, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties called on O’Callaghan to engage in meaningful talks with solicitors to identify a lasting resolution.
It said it “note[s] the understandable anger among solicitors after he accused them ahead of his Oireachtas Justice Committee appearance today of deliberately targeting rape cases in their dispute. Such comments risk further embedding a serious impasse, when what is urgently required is constructive engagement and a resolution.”
The Law Society issued a statement on Tuesday calling on O’Callaghan to “meet and try to resolve this escalating dispute, which now affects every level of our criminal courts: the District Court, the Circuit Court and the Central Criminal Court.
“Despite numerous requests, the Minister for Justice has not met the Law Society since July 27th,” it said. “The administration of justice is being disrupted across the country, causing real anxiety and distress to victims of crime, defendants and all court users.”
It said it had written to O’Callaghan four times since July seeking “a meeting and meaningful engagement to resolve the two core outstanding issues relating to the new criminal legal aid scheme”.
But Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Tuesday that he will not intervene in the deepening dispute.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet, Martin also said O’Callaghan had an obligation to “say it as he sees it”.
“The Minister will deal with this, and I won’t be intervening in the situation at all,” Martin said.
The Taoiseach said, “I support the Minister in terms of what he’s endeavouring to do, in terms of reform of our courts, and I would share his regret [that] what appeared to be a significant number of rape cases were not heard.”
He denied O’Callaghan had escalated the situation with his comments, which the Minister initially made to RTÉ on Monday evening and is expected to repeat in an appearance at the Oireachtas justice committee on Tuesday.
“I don’t think he’s putting fuel on the flames,” the Taoiseach said. “I don’t think the action yesterday is necessary, quite frankly. The Minister has an obligation to uphold the law, say it as he sees it.”
Martin said there had been “significant participation” in criminal cases in the District Courts “across the length and breadth of the country” despite the withdrawal of services.
“The Minister is open for ongoing engagement, but reform of our legal services and of our courts has been sought for a long time, and it’s important that these reforms bed down,” he said.
Martin added that O’Callaghan had already changed some aspects of the reforms and was open to further engagement with solicitors.
“If you look at the figures, we haven’t pulled back any funding from the legal courts or the system. It’s the other direction: we’ve increased it significantly ... I do believe investment and reform come together,” the Taoiseach said.
Asked about a report in The Irish Times on Tuesday detailing the lack of a special care place for a 14-year-old girl who is being sexually exploited by a group of men, Martin said he did not have the details of the case but it was “a very serious situation, obviously”.
He said he would speak to Ministers, including O’Callaghan, Minister for Children Norma Foley and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, who will receive written details of the case following an instruction by Judge John Jordan.
