Serious issues arise in Portlaoise District Court over solicitors' legal aid strike
Portlaoise Courthouse
A DAY after the contentious reforms of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme came into force an issue arose at Portlaoise District Court on how a defendant could access treatment to address his addiction issues. However, his case could not proceed without legal representation.
As the morning’s proceedings got under way on Thursday 2 July a man was brought from custody to face the court.
His solicitor, who said she had previously acted on his behalf, told Judge Susan Fay that she was not now doing so, due to the ongoing dispute over the legal aid payment reforms.
Judge Fay informed the solicitor, Josephine Fitzpatrick, that other judges are granting free legal aid to defendants but were not assigning specific solicitors to the cases.
Ms Fitzpatrick said she was not applying for free legal aid to be assigned to her.
She said all solicitors want to do is their work and to represent their clients. She said that it was not possible to do so at present because the Department of Justice “has put us in this difficult situation.” Another solicitor Barry Fitzgerald spoke up and said about the refusal of solicitors to engage in the new reforms and the ongoing dispute: “We have been forced into this situation to withdraw our services.” The withdrawal of solicitor’s representation under the free legal aid scheme and its effect was later brought into sharp focus when a 21-year-old local man came before the court accompanied by his mother.
The man’s mother said that she had attempted to assist her son to obtain residential treatment to deal with his addiction issues.
She told Judge Fay that her first effort to have him admitted to a residential home was hampered because the home wanted her son to address his mental health issues, which was done. The second occasion he was to address his drug taking, which he also did and now the residential home said that before they could admit him, the present court cases that he is facing would need to be finalised.
Judge Fay said that she could not proceed to finalise the case because her son’s solicitor was not present.
She went on to adjourn the case to 9 July, in the hope that the ongoing dispute between the solicitors and the Department would be resolved.
*The Free Legal Aid reforms that came into force on 1 July replaces the old fee-per-appearance model with a single flat fee for District Court cases. The Law Society of Ireland strongly opposed the reform, leading to walk outs and ongoing disputes with the Department of Justice.
