Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I promised the representative associations I would introduce legislation relating to vicarious liability so that members would understand where they stood when they became involved in the criminal process. We have reached a funny point. Legal aid fees are substantial compared to when I began to practise at the Bar in 1974. There was a time when legal aid was regarded as a dirty raincoat end of the spectrum activity by practising barristers. It was a case of God help those interested in criminal law while others had to do the work out of economic necessity. It was not fashionable, although many barristers acted on a pro bono basis in criminal cases because criminal legal aid was not introduced until the 1960s. It was first introduced in murder cases and was then generalised as a result of a High Court decision.

It would be a heavy burden on a middle class person of normal means to pay a solicitor or barrister the amount available under the legal aid scheme for his or her defence if he or she was impecunious. Serious offences attract serious legal aid fees and it is a heavy burden on a person who does not qualify for legal aid to meet those fees. Members of the Garda who faced a lengthy jury trial arising, for example, out of an accusation of assault wondered whether they could afford to defend themselves properly. It was demeaning for a member who takes a salary form the State that his or her family circumstances were such that he or she could not put together the fees to have himself or herself properly defended. The representative associations picked up the tab in many of these cases and that was a worry for them because they were providing a system of legal aid.

Senator Leyden suggested that if a garda was acquitted, he or she should be given the full costs of his or her defence as would be the case if or she was convicted. I am not disposed to doing that because if one is acquitted, the system will provide a sum not exceeding that available under legal aid and that is a generous amount. It is not necessary to give somebody more out of the public purse.