Dear Colleague,

As you know, legal aid rates were cut significantly in 2009 and again in later years due to budgetary constraints. Despite the passing of a significant period of time and the increasing complexity of criminal legal work, as well as inflation, these rates have still not been reviewed - the only part of the public sector not to have pay cuts reinstated. The case for restoration is indisputable.

The Law Society, and in particular the Criminal Law Committee, has been campaigning for many years for these fees to be restored because we believe it is essential that we have a criminal justice system that is both effective and sufficiently funded to ensure access to justice wherever people need legal representation. Over the intervening years, many in the Law Society, its Committees and individual solicitors have been continuously working and communicating to highlight this issue, as outlined below.

A report on the lack of viability of the system was prepared in 2016 and a submission was sent to the Department of Justice and Equality in 2018 outlining how the legal aid scheme could be restructured. In more recent years, meetings have taken place with various Ministers for Justice as well as government officials to advocate on behalf of criminal practitioners for a restoration of Legal Aid fees. We have expressed our concerns regarding both civil and criminal legal aid fees this year in the national media.

You will be aware that the Bar of Ireland has announced a withdrawal of services on 3 October 2023 in response to the fees issue and we have received queries in this regard.

I would like to assure you that it is a priority for the Law Society that criminal defence solicitors are compensated fairly for their critical and valuable service to the public to ensure access to justice for all. To that end, we are working with the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee and our legal advisors to review options and decide on our next steps.

We will be in touch again as soon as we have an update on this situation.

Kind regards,

Maura Derivan,

President