THE threatened work to rule by solicitors and technical officers at the Chief State Solicitors Office is expected to go ahead this morning. However, it is unclear what the short term effect will be, and it may be up to two weeks before the action interferes significantly with the work of the courts.
There were no moves to avert the dispute over the weekend. The Department of Finance has made no offer to re-enter "meaningful" negotiations on staffing, as requested by IMPACT, the union involved. The Department is understood to have been looking at contingency plans to try and ensure that important cases and urgent legal work on behalf of the Government is not seriously disrupted in the short term.
Staff are taking action because of chronic understaffing. The need for extra staff has been confirmed by several independent assessments, most notably by consultants Deloitte and Touche last year. There are 39 solicitors at the Chief State Solicitor's office and 36 technical officers. The solicitors are looking for 15 extra staff and technical officers (law clerks) are seeking seven extra posts.
IMPACT assistant general secretary, Mr David Hughes, said yesterday that the attitude of the Department demonstrated how much it was underestimating the seriousness of the staffing shortage.
The work to rule will cover a ban on photocopying and a refusal to give handwritten replies to correspondence. Both sanctions will dramatically slow down the preparation of work on court cases, especially in the Dublin District Courts, where staff at the Chief State Solicitor's Office normally act as prosecutors. In the longer term criminal and extradition cases before the Dublin Circuit Courts, the Special Criminal Court and the Central Criminal Court would also be affected.
Conveyancing deals on behalf of various State agencies would also be delayed as would the work of various State tribunals.