Jim O’Callaghan v solicitors on legal aid reform – who will blink first?

When a defendant in a court case is granted legal aid, the State pays. Before a reform of the payment system introduced on July 1st, solicitors could bill the Department of Justice €239.38 for their first appearance in court for their client and €59.86 for each subsequent one. The invoice is called a legal aid certificate.Defendants frequently face multiple charges that are heard together in the same sitting. Before July 1st, the solicitor could invoice for each charge, meaning multiple payments for each client. In the past 18 months more than 100 cases involved at least 10 invoices being sent to the Department concerning individual clients whose charges were dealt with together or in quick succession before the District Court.In the reform of the payment system, solicitors will now receive a flat fee of €520 per criminal legal aid client.Many solicitors on the legal aid panel have rejected this new payment model, and withdrew their services for two days this week.The Minister says he will meet the Law Society to discuss its concerns about payment reforms, but as he has previously said the reforms will stay, is there any hope of resolution?Irish Times political correspondent Cormac McQuinn explains.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.