Criminal barristers will withdraw their services and protest outside courthouses across the country on Tuesday in an escalation of their dispute over fees.
Protests will be held at 16 courthouses nationwide, with further withdrawals of services planned on July 15th and July 24th.
Sanctioned by the council of the Bar of Ireland, the protests follows the first ever withdrawal of services by criminal barristers last October.
They want the unwinding of all recession-era cuts still applicable to them and an “independent, meaningful, time-limited and binding mechanism” to determine fees paid by the Director of Public Prosecutions and under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Scheme.
Bar council chairwoman Sara Phelan SC said the recommendation for another withdrawal of services was made “with regret” but barristers had been “left with no choice”.
The Government has just reported on the complete unwinding of legislation for recession-era public sector pay cuts but cuts still apply to criminal barristers, despite their role evolving significantly and “delivering on required reforms and flexibilities”.
A failure to invest in the criminal justice system would result in continued attrition at the criminal bar, in turn adding to delays in the criminal justice system, Ms Phelan said. “The ball is in the Government’s court now.”
Senior counsel Seán Guerin, chairman of the Criminal State Bar committee, said that, eight months after a commitment was given to establish a process reviewing the fees, “no meaningful progress” had been made.
Inadequate fees was having “a corrosive effect” on the retention of counsel in criminal practice, and a lack of experienced and available barristers led to inequality and injustice, impacting on everyone in society, he said.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee told the Dáil last week the crisis-era reductions should be removed. She had secured €9 million to provide for a 10 per cent increase in criminal legal aid fees, effective from January last, and was committed to seek to make further progress in the October budget in relation to fee restoration but the budgetary process must be followed, she said.
On Monday the Department of Justice reiterated that position to The Irish Times and said the recommendation for withdrawal of services “is regretted”.
The Criminal Legal Aid scheme needed to be modernised, and department officials and the legal profession were continuing to work collaboratively on that, it said.
The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill 2023 would modernise operation of the scheme, introducing strengthened oversight and governance structures, it said.
Earnings of criminal barristers vary widely. The top 10 senior counsel earners in 2023 were all paid more than €340,000, with Michael Bowman SC in first position with earnings of €772,911. The top 10 junior counsel earners ranged from barrister Luigi Rea, paid €202,666, to barrister Keith Spencer, who earned €765,954.
Some €23.7 million was paid to junior counsel and €15.6 million to senior counsel in 2023, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year. That involved increases of 30 and 27 per cent respectively in total payments to senior and junior counsel.
High earnings are not widespread. A 2020 survey by the bar council found 75 per cent of junior counsel earned about €40,000.
A 2022 report commissioned by the council from consultants EY concluded Ireland had too many barristers with many struggling financially. Almost two in three told EY they relied significantly on legal aid schemes.
At the very bottom of the criminal legal aid scale, criminal barristers earn from as little as €27 a day in the District Court. Barristers working in District Courts are paid by instructing solicitors and have urged introduction of a mechanism where they would be paid directly.
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