Jim O’Callaghan has been accused of “grossly unfair commentary” and a “massive misstep” over his claim that rape trials in the Central Criminal Court were the only ones “deliberately affected” by the withdrawal of solicitors’ services as part of the dispute over legal aid.
The Minister for Justice was defiant, however, in the face of criticism of his remarks during an appearance at the Oireachtas Justice Committee on Tuesday.
O’Callaghan signalled he is open to compromise on issues solicitors may have with how the new legal aid regime is applied to cases involving children.
Many defence solicitors, particularly in Dublin, withdrew legal aid services in July after a new flat-fee system for District Court cases was introduced.
The dispute escalated on Monday with the withdrawal of services expanding to cases including custody and children’s cases.
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O’Callaghan has faced a backlash from political opponents and solicitors over comments he made about rape cases in his opening statement to the committee, which emerged in advance of the meeting.
During the committee hearing, O’Callaghan said the legal aid scheme is “operating nationwide” but that “particularly in Dublin, a number of solicitors have withdrawn services which have impacted on court hearings, and that’s regrettable”.
He said: “Despite this, in the Central Criminal Court yesterday [Monday], the majority of cases proceeded without issue.”
O’Callaghan said six rape cases “were adjourned due to the withdrawal of services by solicitors”. He expressed his “deep concern that the only cases deliberately affected by the withdrawal of services in the Central Criminal Court yesterday were those involving allegations of rape”.
Fine Gael TD Barry Ward, a Government backbencher who is a practising criminal barrister, said this was “grossly unfair commentary”. He said there is “no evidence to suggest that solicitors were deliberately targeting that [rape cases]”, and that O’Callaghan should “consider withdrawing that remark because you don’t have the basis for it”.
The Fianna Fáil Minister said, however, that he wanted to “set out the facts”, reiterating that six rape cases were adjourned on Monday because of the withdrawal of services.
O’Callaghan said four rape cases were adjourned on October 12th and another five rape cases were adjourned on October 5th, all on the basis of “withdrawal of services”. He said that on Monday “there was also seven cases which weren’t rape cases, which were trial-continuing cases. None of those cases were affected by the withdrawal.”
Ward responded that this was because those cases were continuing trials, and asked whether it was not “deeply disingenuous” to suggest ”a deliberate targeting of rape trials – it’s hugely emotive, it’s very unfair, and it’s also wrong – because the evidence is not there to support it”.
Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward said there were other cases in the District and Circuit Courts that did not proceed as a result of the withdrawal of services by solicitors, including trials on robbery, arson, fraud, burglary, violent disorder and other offences. He put it to O’Callaghan that he “cherry-picked one court and had a look at one court, because it suits your political agenda at the moment”.
O’Callaghan said he “zoned in on the Central Criminal Court” because “that’s where the [solicitors’] campaign was yesterday”.
He said: “The coverage yesterday was all about disruption to rape cases in the Central Criminal Court. I was perfectly entitled to make the point I did.”
Labour TD Alan Kelly told O’Callaghan that reform of the legal aid system is necessary, but “from a negotiation point of view, to say what you said in relation to a rape trials was a massive misstep. If you’re trying to de-escalate a situation in negotiations, to say something like that was only throwing fuel on the fire.”
Kelly asked about the issues O’Callaghan was willing to negotiate over with solicitors.
During the summer, the Law Society of Ireland proposed that long-running cases would see a second legal aid certificate issued when cases exceed 10 court appearances, citing cases involving children among those where this can happen.
O’Callaghan told Kelly there is an ongoing Department of Justice review on children’s cases. “If it is the case that it looks like the average length of time it takes for a children’s case to conclude is more than the five [court appearances], I will reflect that in changes.”
He said: “I’m not going to go back into permitting multiple certificates, but I’ll keep an open mind. I’m not going to negotiate in here with you now.”
During his opening statement to the committee, O’Callaghan cited an example of 131 certificates being issued in the Dublin District Court in relation to a money laundering charge. He said: “There was only two appearances in the District Court, and the fees payable to the solicitor would amount to €26,800.”
He later said the “fundamental principle” when it comes to the new flat-fee system is “trying to cut down on the scandal of multiple certificates. I’m not going to change that.”