From:Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan TD has stated that it is deeply regrettable that certain solicitors have withdrawn services in cases paid for by the State under the criminal legal aid scheme on Wednesday, 22nd July 2026.

An 8% increase was applied to all criminal legal payments to solicitors and barristers in the Circuit Court and higher courts since the 1st July 2026. A new single payment of €520 was introduced for summary cases in the District Court which is an 8% increase on previous payments made for five appearances, the weighted average number of appearances in the District Court where cases are paid for under the criminal legal aid scheme.

“It is deeply regrettable that certain solicitors have decided to withdraw their services in full today. This action will result in the unnecessary adjournment of court proceedings which will negatively impact on any person who finds themselves in contact with the criminal justice system.

“Since the introduction of the increase in payments for criminal legal aid and the new fee structure for District Court payments, over 200 new payment certificates have issued to solicitors under the new Scheme despite claims that the system had “collapsed”. This represents a commitment by the State to pay well over €100,000 for criminal legal aid cases under the new scheme so far which has been in place for 14 working days.

“As Minister, with a responsibility to ensure that the criminal legal aid scheme is not abused, I cannot allow a blank cheque to be written by the taxpayer to allow for multiple payment certificates to be issued for one accused person or multiple unnecessary adjournments being sought. I also cannot ignore that similar cases that have the same outcome paid for privately by citizens not legally aided have an average weighted number of appearances of three (3) when criminal legal aid cases have an average weighted number of appearances of five (5).

“In considering the need for reform, I had to take account of the fact that criminal case volumes in the District Court have decreased, yet expenditure on criminal legal aid in the District Court has increased from €19 million in 2015 to over €41 million in 2025. There has been a decrease in the overall number of incoming criminal cases in the District Courts, from 391,207 in 2017 to 342,791 in 2025 yet expenditure continues to increase.

“Finally, while Department officials met with The Law Society on 18th June 2026, it should be noted that no request has been received from the Law Society to meet me on this matter since I met with their senior leadership on 29th May 2026. I did receive a request for a meeting from the President of the Law Society on 21st July 2026 in relation to the Civil Legal Aid Scheme which Department officials are currently arranging.”

The Minister and Department’s engagement with the Law Society is set out below.