'Not acceptable' that cases cannot proceed, says judge

The judge presiding over the Central Criminal Court list has said it is "not acceptable" that cases are not able to proceed because solicitors have withdrawn their services due to their dispute with the Minister for Justice over the criminal legal aid payment scheme.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott was speaking during the weekly listing of rape, sexual assault and murder cases in the court.

More than 20 cases were listed with some for mention, some for trial and some for pre-trial hearings or to have dates fixed for trial.

The court heard that almost half were affected by the dispute.

A number of cases in the Circuit Criminal Court are also affected by the withdrawal of services.

These included sentences and arraignments involving offences such as possession of drugs, affray, attempted robbery, financial fraud, assault and child cruelty, which were adjourned to later dates.

Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan is due to meet the solicitors' representative body, the Law Society, tomorrow.

A number of solicitors involved in the dispute have said they welcome the meeting and say they believe a resolution to what Judge McDermott called this "prolonged dispute" is in reach.

In the first affected case due to go on trial today before Judge McDermott, Senior Counsel Eoin Lawlor told him that it involved a vulnerable complainant, who had been "steeling herself for quite some time" for the trial date.

Mr Lawlor said a decision is due from the High court on 3 November in a challenge taken to the new legal aid scheme and asked the judge to adjourn the trial until the following week in the hope that there may be a development in the dispute as a result of the judgment.

Judge McDermott agreed to the adjournment despite noting that he had eight other cases listed for trial on 9 November.

Another case involved an accused man in custody.

Judge McDermott was told by Senior Counsel Colman Fitzgerald that he had no instructions in the matter because of the dispute.

The judge said no one could withdraw from a custody case without the permission of the court.

He said the case was listed for trial and as far as he was concerned it was going ahead.

He listed it for Thursday.

The judge was told of several other cases involving vulnerable complainants, which he said "regrettably" he had to adjourn due to the dispute.

Senior Counsel Ronan Kennedy told the judge the complainant in his case was extremely vulnerable and had been extremely distressed when the trial was adjourned last week.

He asked for a date before Christmas.

However, Mr Justice McDermott said he could not give a date until February next year.

The judge said he did not know when the dispute would end and the complainant had been put in this difficulty by a process outside of her control and outside the control of the court.

He was trying to assess people’s vulnerability and trying to give priority to such cases.

He said this was "not acceptable" and said it had always been his view that the only reason cases should not proceed was if a court or a judge was not available.

Judge McDermott said the woman was a casualty not only of the "ordinary difficulties of the criminal justice process" but of this "prolonged dispute".

He noted that the dispute would also cause further delays for other newer cases which would now get later dates because of the backlog of cases building up.

The judge ordered legal representatives for another accused man in a murder case to come before him later this afternoon after being told instructions had been withdrawn.

The case was for hearing this morning.

The judge said it was a case "of great sensitivity" where the accused was in custody.

He said he had received no application from the legal team to come off record and he warned that he was "not going to let it sit in a vacuum".

By law, solicitors who want to stop representing a client who is in custody must first make an application to the court, which must consider the effects of such a withdrawal.

Dispute resolution 'in sight', say criminal defence solicitors

Earlier, a statement issued on behalf of three prominent criminal defence solicitors expressed hope that a path to resolving the dispute was "in sight".

In the statement, solicitors Colleen Gildernew, Amanda Connolly and Tony Collier said they hoped the meeting between the Law Society and the Minister for Justice tomorrow would be a "genuine negotiation" and not just a listening exercise.

The solicitors have objected to the new payment scheme for legal aid cases introduced on 1 July.

This provided for a flat fee of €520 per accused instead of the previous system which had been based on the number of court appearances.

The solicitors say the new scheme does not take into account more complicated cases such as those involving children or mental health issues.

In their statement, they pointed out that many delays and adjournments in cases are outside their control and are caused by disclosure issues or delays in getting the DPP’s directions or further delays involving books of evidence, psychiatric or probation reports.

The solicitors are proposing a further payment for such cases be made available after 10 court appearances.

They are also proposing separate payments for separate offences committed on separate dates, capped at five per client, per court, per day.

They say complex cases are not limited to the children’s court and any solution should not just be limited to children’s cases.

The Minister for Justice has said he will not revoke the new regulations although he has said he would "tweak" them, if there was a necessity to do so.

He told the Oireachtas committee on justice last week that the reforms were in the public interest and in the best interest of court users.