O’Callaghan’s amended offer in legal aid dispute ‘obviously unsustainable’, solicitor says

Solicitor Michael Finucane has said that while solicitors keep trying to engage with the Minister for Justice, they will also continue their industrial action in the dispute over the introduction of a flat fee payment for criminal legal aid cases. A “clear invitation” had been extended to Jim O’Callaghan to have “real and meaningful discussion” about the proposals the Minister wanted to implement, he told Newstalk Breakfast with Anton Savage.“We will work with him and his department to find a solution that actually addresses the requirements of the criminal justice system,” Finucane said. “Maybe that hasn’t happened yet, but we’re willing to keep talking.” The dispute, which has resulted in work stoppages in the criminal courts as solicitors opposed the new system, arose over the introduction of a flat fee payment at the beginning of this month.O’Callaghan is sticking with the flat fee payment of €520 for criminal legal aid cases but, in a bid to break the deadlock, has agreed to pay two-thirds of the fee at the start of a case and the remaining third at the conclusion of the case or 12 months later, whichever comes first.READ MOREFinucane said the Minister’s “modified” offer was “obviously unsustainable ... and in terms of the rest of the concerns raised by solicitors and raised by the Law Society on our behalf, he hasn’t changed anything at all”.Finucane acknowledged that O’Callaghan’s proposal of a split payment did have a benefit in terms of cash flow, but said the problem was solicitors were being asked “to take on an unknown job of work for an unknown length of time for the same amount of money.“And you’re also being asked to take on several cases in some instances for the same amount of money. And a person appearing in court facing several different charges on day one is effectively facing a dilution of the resources that are being made available to them. Whereas a person who faces charges incrementally on days two or three or whatever, they will have their resources multiplied because under the Minister’s scheme, new resources can be applied for through new legal aid inserts on subsequent days provided those are the first days that the charges appear.“So even within its own terms, the system doesn’t make sense.”Finucane said solicitors could be faced with multiple different cases from different incidents on different dates, “but because they happen to arrive on the same day, you get one fee”.The reality was that a legal aid system that was designed under a statute enacted in 1965 bore no resemblance to the reality of modern criminal defence practice, he said. It was unfair that solicitors who were objecting to the proposals were starting to face criticism from the judiciary. “They start facing threats to be reported to the legal services regulatory authority,” Finucane said. “We are shoehorned into these cases and there is a refusal to let us walk away or come out of it. Or, it would appear, express dissatisfaction with the system that we’re expected to work on.”Finucane said withdrawing services had been a last resort for solicitors, adding: “Let’s not forget that before the Minister announced that he was introducing this new scheme, there was a functioning criminal justice system in which solicitors were participating.“This is the straw that has broken the camel’s back. Because people have been working in a system that is inefficient, underpaid, under-resourced and badly in need of reform.”Finucane concluded: “The Minister brought in a system that said ‘I expect you to work indefinitely for the lowest amount of money I can get away with.’”