Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. This is an important issue. This morning, I stood in the rain outside the Criminal Courts of Justice with my colleagues at the criminal Bar to demonstrate the importance of this issue. The reality is that cuts were made to the criminal legal aid scheme in the aftermath of the financial emergency in this country.Nobody had a difficulty with those cuts. They were taken in greater measure than many sectors, but barristers and solicitors who work under the criminal legal aid scheme accepted that they were necessary. They have not been restored. We have raised this issue for many long years now. This year there was a 10% restoration, which has left barristers being paid rates that are 20 years old.

This is an important issue. It is singularly unfair that criminal practitioners are the last to have their fees restored. There is a real danger that this will affect the administration of justice. I speak to colleagues all the time at the Bar, particularly junior colleagues, who are choosing not to practise criminal law because they cannot make a living at it. It is unsustainable to expect them to work in the District Court for €27, which may be the only fee they receive in a whole day. They might have to drive some distance to earn that fee and may spend more money on petrol or diesel doing so. This is not sustainable, and it will have a knock-on impact on the entirety of our criminal justice system. This will be seen in a decade from now when nobody is practising criminal law and we do not achieve the standards of representation we expect from the sector. That will result in delays for victims, miscarriages of justice and all kinds of other knock-on problems. The Bar of Ireland and other criminal practitioners have made a reasonable request, not for the State to give them extra money but put that money back to where it was.