Disruption of Mayo court sittings continues as strike takes a firm grip

Sittings of Castlebar District Court has been severely disrupted by the ongoing industrial action taken by Mayo solicitors over the ‘one accused, one fee’ legal aid model introduced by Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan.

A total of 52 cases were adjourned on July 15, with the bulk of the day's business set back to November.

Solicitors attended court filling the lobby of Castlebar courthouse to meet with clients and informing them of the strike.

Those due before Judge Michael Connellan were told their cases would be put back to a later date.

They then packed the courtroom and were informed, one by one, as their names were called, that the state would be rescheduling for a later.

Solicitors Gary Mulchrone and Eileen Feely both sat in court in the morning before informing the judge that, due to the ongoing dispute, they would "regretfully be withdrawing their services from the court."

The disruption continued on July 16, with a special motoring court also discommoded.

The dispute is expected to continue until a resolution is reached. Fears are growing of a further escalation.

Family law cases, which had continued to progress in recent weeks despite the strike, are now expected to fall foul of the dispute as solicitors weigh up further action to secure their demands.

The Castlebar disruption mirrors scenes played out in courts across the country since the new payment model came into effect on July 1.

Under the old system, solicitors were paid €239.38 for a first appearance representing a client, with a further €59.86 for every subsequent hearing. The new model replaces this with a flat fee of €520 per case, regardless of how many appearances it takes to conclude, under what the Department of Justice has termed a "one accused, one fee" system.

More than 1,000 court cases nationally, primarily in the District Court, have been adjourned since solicitors began withdrawing their services from free legal aid panels in protest at the reforms, with the Law Society warning of an "exodus" from the scheme.

* Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.