Legal aid reform dispute 'at standstill' - Law Society
The Law Society of Ireland has said a dispute over legal aid fees has "effectively come to a standstill" and that victims have been left "in limbo".
The dispute over legal aid fees in Ireland has reached a standstill, leaving victims in a state of uncertainty. Solicitors in Dublin and Cork are preparing to withdraw their legal aid services, with a backlog of cases affecting defendants, victims, and solicitors alike. The issue stems from changes to the legal aid payment system introduced in July, which replaced the previous system that paid solicitors for each court appearance with a flat-fee payment of €520 per client in the district court.
Solicitors argue that the flat-fee payment is unworkable and that the old system, which paid solicitors for each appearance, was more fair. Law Society spokesperson Ian McNamara has proposed that victims and witnesses should receive separate legal aid certificates for separate cases, and that solicitors can reapply for a new legal aid certificate after 10 attendances.
However, the minister for justice, Jim O'Callaghan, has refused to change his stance on the issue. McNamara is willing to accept that there may be exceptional cases where a solicitor makes a claim for multiple certificates in one attendance, but refuses to comment on the potential for abuse of the system. If there is no further engagement from O'Callaghan before October, McNamara believes that a fix may not be reached until then.
Written by urgent.news from RTE News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
