Reversal of 10% criminal legal aid fee cuts welcomed by Bar council as ‘important and necessary first step’

A €9 million funding package to reverse a 10 per cent cut to barristers’ criminal legal aid fees has been welcomed by the Bar council as “an important and necessary first step”.

The funding, part of budget measures secured by the Department of Justice, was announced just a week after a strike by hundreds of criminal barristers over the failure to reverse recession-era fee cuts.

The council of the Bar of Ireland, which organised the withdrawal of services on October 3rd, had said it would await the budget before considering its next step.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who had supported reversing the cuts, had indicated they were the subject of budget negotiations.

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On Tuesday, her department announced €9 million funding to increase fees for criminal legal aid by 10 per cent in 2024 “to make progress in restoring criminal legal aid fees”.

Following the budget, more work will be undertaken with the legal profession on legal aid, it added.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Bar council said it had recommended the withdrawal of services “with regret and as a last resort” because fees for criminal barristers had fallen below 2002 levels in nominal terms following cuts applied during the financial emergency.

A Government-commissioned review in 2018 acknowledged the reversal of fee cuts imposed on barristers following the financial emergency in 2008 was justified given the level of reform and flexibilities delivered by the profession, it said.

“The lack of any progress on restoration in the intervening period has led to a growing retention crisis at the criminal bar and has been detrimental to frontline advocacy services.”

Bar council chairwoman Sara Phelan SC said: “All we have been seeking on behalf of our members is that they are treated fairly. The fact is that barristers have been treated differently to other workers in the criminal justice system, and to other workers who are paid by the State, for many years.”

The €9 million funding allocation “represents an unwinding of the 10 per cent cut that was uniquely applied to barristers in 2011″ and is “a welcome and important first step”, she said.

Because the full range of recession-era cuts applied across the public sector will continue to apply to barristers, she said the Bar welcomed the announcement of a process to review the structure and level of fees paid to criminal barristers.

That process must be “independent, meaningful and time-limited”, she said.

Payment structure and fee rates will require “careful consideration” to ensure criminal barristers across all jurisdictions, including the District Court, are treated fairly, she said.

That must include the continued unwinding of the remaining cuts dating from 2009 and 2010 and the restoration of the link to public pay agreements.

Seán Guerin, chairman of the Criminal State Bar Committee, said it is “of fundamental importance for our democracy that the rights of those who engage with the criminal justice system are defended by skilled and experienced barristers and that work deserves fair recompense”.

Law Society president Maura Derivan welcomed the proposed investment in the criminal legal aid scheme, saying it “signals long-awaited progress towards full restoration of pre-recession fees for criminal defence lawyers”.

She said restoration will be “an important step in increasing the availability of criminal legal aid to those who cannot afford access to justice”.

The society’s director general Mark Garrett said it looked forward “to working with the Department of Justice toward long-term sustainability of an efficient and effective criminal legal aid system”.