Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the proposed work stoppages next week by barristers. Last October, in an announcement referring to budget 2024, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, stated:

I am... pleased to have secured funding of €9 million to make progress in increasing the fees payable to legal professionals for criminal legal aid by 10% in early 2024. In conjunction with [that] increase... the intention is to build on the strengths of the criminal legal aid scheme while addressing any issues relating to how it is structured. Engagement will now begin with the professionals... to identify reforms.

This has not happened and it is the reason behind the proposed work stoppages and withdrawal of services.

This withdrawal is an escalation of previous action taken in October last year. That action was suspended in the expectation, barristers say, that the commitment by the Minister would be the beginning of a process. However, according to them, that process has yet to commence.

Barristers, as we know, are key to the smooth functioning of the criminal justice system, prosecuting and defending. It is essential that the State and victims’ cases be prosecuted in the best possible way. Equally, every citizen is entitled to be protected by a vigorous defence, whether by contest or plea. There is a requirement for decent remuneration for the barristers to maintain standards. Efficiencies have been delivered in the past, but barristers are now in limbo without a proper pay review. The pay cut, in real terms, has been one of 40% over the past 20 years, dating from when the Government unilaterally broke the barristers’ link to public sector pay.

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