Mr. William Morrin:

What other profession would have a barrister leaving the Four Courts and going down to a restaurant or bar to work as a waiter or waitress? That is the reality for these people. I am blessed to have a pension from another profession and can afford to stay, but my pension was subsidising the free legal aid scheme because I was working in the District Court for nothing. Such a situation is not tenable.

Under head 19(7), a solicitor can make a written application for counsel. If the word “written” were removed, the solicitor could make an application to court for counsel in the District Court. This is because there are not enough criminal solicitors practising. Last night, I received a text from a criminal solicitor who was giving it up, it had grown so uneconomical for him. Criminal solicitors are having a problem. They are using barristers to shore up their offices.