Dozens of cases couldn’t go ahead in Longford Circuit Court today because of a solicitors’ strike.
It’s due to a row over the legal aid scheme.
Solicitors across Ireland are on strike in relation to changes to the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme.
A flat payment of €520 is now being paid to solicitors for their representation of defendants availing of legal aid, no matter how many times the case comes before the court.
The change was introduced last week by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, despite mounting opposition.
This had a big impact on this month’s sitting of Longford Circuit Court, which started this morning.
The court heard lots of solicitors have withdrawn their services – with barristers saying they’d received no instructions in several cases involving legal aid.
Judge Kenneth Connolly adjourned them until later this month, next week or the week after, to see if progress could be made then.
