Big Jim needs to settle row with solicitors

There’s still life in that old joke about lawyers, more so in recent weeks as Jim O’Callaghan imposes his new criminal legal aid payments scheme on solicitors.

It goes something like this: how would you describe a few lawyers at the bottom of a canal? Answer: a good start.

Boom boom!

Not really, but it does give an insight into how regular people view solicitors and barristers. And ‘warmth’ is not a word that immediately springs to mind. (I say all that as a practising barrister.)

This is because solicitors and barristers are the kind of people you meet when you’re in trouble – down at the courts for one reason or another, making or getting a will, sorting out property and the like.

So Big Jim O’Callaghan was already onto a winner when, as Minister for Justice, he decided to smarten up the criminal legal aid system which had the intention of saving public money and preventing abuses.

These abuses are said to involve a larger-than-usual number of adjournments which meant more money for solicitors, and multiple pay-outs for lawyers dependent on the number of criminal charges against a particular suspect.

Jim had decided to fix it and sure, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, lots actually.

Those uppity solicitors decided to dig in and refuse to act for clients; this meant clients with rights to legal representation were denied just that and judges had no choice but to adjourn thousands of cases in Kerry and all over Ireland.

Further, suspects were being questioned by gardaí without having the benefit of solicitors’ advice; and when charged the question of bail was adjourned because there was nobody there to represent them.

Big Jim’s attempt to fix things has had the opposite effect; the criminal legal system is now completely busted on account of his actions.

And now a High Court judge has ruled that the refusal or adjournment of bail to people in these circumstances amounts to a fundamental denial of justice. We should all remember that people charged may later be found innocent of any crime but, nevertheless, have spent time in prison for something they did not do.

You see where this is going; which is back into the courts by way of claims for those same people against the State for wrongful imprisonment etc.

Something that Big Jim intended would save public money may now cost a whole ball of cash, in compensation and (OMG!) legal fees.

Well done Jim.

It’s not quite clear yet where all this will end. The courts are now on summer break and the real problem of backlogs will emerge in October, at the latest.

The government cannot allow the criminal justice system to collapse around our ears. Criminality still needs to be confronted by gardaí and the courts; society needs to be protected.

A system that cannot process trials, that cannot impose sentences, that is violating fundamental rights by denying bail is a system that’s useless.

This row needs to end, and that can only be done by Big Jim hammering out a deal with solicitors.