Solicitors stage walk-out at Portlaoise Courthouse
Portlaoise Courthouse
SOLICITORS working in the criminal legal aid system in Portlaoise District Court staged a walk-out this morning in an escalation of the dispute over legal aid payment reforms.
Since the new payment scheme for legal aid solicitors that was first mooted early last year by the Department of Justice, solicitors have been raising concerns on how it would affect their work and representation of their clients.
The new scheme that commenced on 1 July replaces payments per court appearance with a flat fee of €520 per client, which solicitors say is unworkable.
They also say because the fee is not paid until a case is finalised, solicitors who start work on a case are not guaranteed that they will ever be paid for it.
The Department of Justice said the new scheme would lead to less abuse of the system and cut down on the issuing of multiple certificates of legal aid to different solicitors in relation to the same client.
Up to this morning solicitors engaged in the legal aid scheme in the District Court in Portlaoise had withdrawn their services for over the past month, did not attend evening or weekend proceeds and did not assist those detained in garda stations. While several solicitor and barristers provided their services pro bono (free of charges.) However, just before proceedings commenced by Judge Andrew Cody solicitors who had been in attendance, left the court room and the courthouse and did not return for the day.
This left many people informing Judge Cody that while they had been assigned solicitors under the free legal aid scheme, they could not proceed with their cases without the advice and in the absence of legal representation.
A small number of other people said that had been assigned solicitors but nonetheless wanted to proceed with their cases.
Judge Cody adjourned most cases until after the summer recess in September.
