Criminal trials planned for September may not take place unless a dispute between barristers and the Department of Justice is resolved, a senior judge conceded yesterday. The acting president of the Circuit Court, Judge Diarmuid Sheridan, said he fully understood the difficulties of the dispute relating to the late payment of legal-aid fees to barristers. However, he said he would need a final answer by September 4th as to whether barristers would be available to act in criminal cases in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court scheduled for the two weeks from September 15th.
Judge Sheridan said that judges would be available and he sincerely hoped the issue would be resolved by September 4th to prevent inconvenience to jurors, court officials, gardai and the Chief State Solicitor's Office.
If the dispute was not resolved by then, the planned September vacation sittings might not take place. Barristers had indicated that they would not take part in the September sittings unless the dispute was resolved.
The chairman-elect of the Bar Council, Mr John MacMenamin SC, appeared before Judge Sheridan in the Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to explain the current situation. Mr MacMenamin said a meeting had taken place last week between representatives of the Bar Council and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue.
The Bar Council had indicated that unless arrears in payments for a large number of free legal-aid cases were addressed, the Criminal Bar would regard the legal aid scheme as repudiated by the Department. It was indicated that the Criminal Bar would withdraw services in criminal legal aid cases.
Mr MacMenamin said the Minister seemed determined to resolve the dispute as soon as possible. He said the Minister's commitment to a comprehensive solution was heartening.
However, in the light of the long-standing nature of the problem, barristers would be sceptical until action was taken and measures actually implemented by the Department.
The problem of late payment of fees, with arrears stretching back over two to three years, had resulted in real financial hardship for barristers who relied on criminal legal aid work for their income, Mr McMenamin said.
Once the arrears issue had been dealt with, the Bar and the Minister would examine the matter with a view to introducing a new system to ensure such problems were not allowed to recur, Mr MacMenamin added.