The criminal court system in Co Clare has come to a virtual standstill due to the ongoing row between solicitors and the Dept of Justice over the new flat rate fee for legal aid work.
The vast bulk of solicitors on the legal aid panel in Clare have withdrawn their service to clients apart from custody cases before the courts in Co Clare.
This has resulted in scores of cases being adjourned to later in the year on the district court criminal lists while large numbers of road traffic cases are also being adjourned due to the row.
Now, figures from the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD (FF) show that only one legal aid certificate under the new system has been granted by the district court office in Ennis between July 1st and July 10th.
In a written Dáil reply on the issue, Minister O’Callaghan confirmed that only 81 legal aid certificates have been granted nationally during that timeframe and only one from the district court office in Ennis which covers the district courts in Clare – Ennis, Kilrush and Killaloe sitting in Ennis along with Gort District Court.
The figures of one would have since increased July 10th as in his reply to Matt Carty TD (SF), Minister O’Callaghan cautioned that the figures are the legal aid certificates granted that have been verified on the case management system used in the District Court.
He said: “It can take some time to result and verify the results of each case when the list concludes, and legal aid certificates will only show on the list once the case has been resulted and verified.”
He said that the table provided shows legal aid certificates issued under the new regulations that came into force on July 1.
He said: “Other legal aid certificates may have been granted for cases covered by the previous regulations where the first court date was before 1 July but legal aid was granted on or after that date.”
The dispute in Clare has also resulted in most circuit court business in July to date being adjourned to a call over list on July 31st with no sentencing of persons on bail not taking place.
The 81 legal certificates awarded nationally compares to 103,303 legal certificates for the 12 months of 2025.
Minister O’Callaghan stated that it should be noted that a single legal aid certificate can have several cases associated with it, while a single case may have multiple legal aid certificates granted and such cases would be counted multiple times in the data provided.
The national spend on criminal legal aid last year increased to €40.7m in 2025 – which represents a 43.5pc increase on the spend of €28.36m for 2022 when 89,413 legal aid certificates were awarded.
In an escalation of the dispute, all criminal defence solicitors are to withdraw their services in the District Court, Circuit Court and the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
Solicitors are threatening a further withdrawal of services during the final week of the legal term next week.
The row was sparked by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan moving to replace the previous payment system with a new flat-fee model.
Most defendant solicitors were paid for each court appearance, starting at just under €240 and then €60 for each subsequent hearing.
From July 1st, a new set fee of €520 will be payable regardless of how many court appearances there are – removing the link between payments and the number of appearances for solicitors.
