Opposition parties have accused Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan of “arrogance” and “waffle”, calling on him to attend the Oireachtas justice committee to discuss the ongoing feud with solicitors over reforms to criminal legal aid.
Social Democrats justice spokesman Gary Gannon said the courts are not functioning effectively, and there was no reason O’Callaghan couldn’t engage in mediation with the solicitors before a judicial review challenging the new system is ruled on next month.
He said the courts service is “on its knees” with victims of crime, accused people and lawyers suffering. “Jim O’Callaghan seems to be failing upwards in a way that very few other politicians would be getting away with,” he said.
Gannon said that fighting with the lawyers may make sense in the context of O’Callaghan’s mooted leadership ambitions in Fianna Fáil, but that it was damaging the administration of justice.
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“[It] may help him get his next job but it makes him poorer at doing the job we’ve asked him to do now, which is justice minister,” said the Dublin Central TD.
Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan Matt Carthy, who chairs the justice committee, said O’Callaghan should attend it as soon as possible.
“Our District Court system is in chaos and that is going to have knock-on implications for the higher courts,” said Carthy, accusing O’Callaghan of sitting back “while the chaos is unfolding. All of this is an absolute mess and ... he has been completely arrogant in his approach to this issue.”
He called on the Minister to engage with the solicitors’ representative groups on “actually finding a mechanism that solves what narrow areas of concern, rather than the pigheaded approach he has taken to date”.
O’Callaghan has replaced the existing appearance-based fee model with a new flat-fee scheme.
It pays solicitors €520 to handle a case from beginning to end, compared with the old system of €240 for the first appearance and €60 for every subsequent one.
O’Callaghan argues that the old system incentivised adjournments and was being abused by some solicitors.
Lawyers have rejected this claim and say the new scheme means solicitors are expected to work for free on complex cases that require multiple court appearances.
