'The last thing we want to do is to be picketing': Barristers strike for first time ever

Barristers on strike for the first time ever outside the courthouse on Washington Street in Cork said today that the last place they wanted to be was on a picket line but that they were driven there by sheer frustration.

“The attitude had been one of, ‘we are barristers and self-employed, keep talking to the government’, but we are done talking. This is the only way we have now of highlighting it. If nothing happens after this I don’t know what will happen next but people feel strongly about it,” Tom Creed senior counsel said on behalf of striking barristers today.

“This is born out of utter frustration. The last thing we want to do is to be picketing. We have behaved as responsibly as we can,” he said.

Mr Creed said that many barristers would end up leaving the criminal representation side of the profession in favour of the more lucrative civil side if pay rates was not restored.

Some 50 barristers stood on the steps of the courthouse on Washington Street, Cork, today for their part of what is a national strike.

Today’s strike has been a long time coming. In line with public service workers, barristers defending clients on free legal aid or prosecuting on behalf of the Director of Public Service took a number of financial cuts following the financial crash in 2008.

Mr Creed said they first took a cut of 8% followed by another 8% followed by 11%. Calculating for inflation, the barristers reckon they are down more than 40%.

They claim that fees for criminal barristers remain below 2002 levels in nominal terms. And they have not had a bounce back tied in with other public sector workers. They say this has not occurred despite a range of additional reforms and changed practices delivered by barristers in recent years.

Nationally, Seán Guerin senior counsel, chair of Criminal State Bar Committee of the Bar Council, explained today’s action: “It will effectively mean criminal courts won’t be able to do their normal day’s work. That is going to be inconvenient for anyone expecting their case to be dealt with. We regret that inconvenience enormously.

“We have been waiting now since July 2018 when it was agreed that we had provided cooperation with reform equivalent to those provided by others who secured a pay restoration. Five budgets have gone by in the interim … without the issue being addressed and so it is time now that it is addressed.

“What we have asked for is pay restoration if line with elsewhere in the public service and no more than that. We have not asked for any pay increases.” 

In relation to solicitors – many of whom will be working today - President of the Southern Law Association, Emma Meagher-Neville said: “We can understand the reason behind the barristers’ decision to take this course of action. We work very closely with our colleagues in the Bar. We understand why it has come to this.

“The Law Society is actively campaigning for solicitors for restoration of criminal legal aid fees for the profession - in the public interest, in recognition of the right to equal access of legal representation which is enshrined in our constitution.” 

At Cork District Court, ahead of today’s stoppage by barristers, Judge Olann Kelleher asked what impact it would have on the work of solicitors today. Solicitor Frank Buttimer said from his contact with the Southern Law Association the position is that solicitors will be working.

“While we very much support the actions of our colleagues in the Bar, solicitors tend to appear at district court level without barristers. So while we support them we don’t have any reason to stand down,” Mr Buttimer said.

In fact, there is no picket at the Anglesea Street courthouse where the district court sits. The Central Criminal Court which was due to sit at Anglesea Street today will not do so until tomorrow (October 4).

Tom Creed SC said: “A 40% cut in income – in fact it is 43.6% - does not augur well for the profession. We are no different to anybody else. If people cannot make a living they won’t stick at it.” 

Mr Creed pointed to evidence of two thirds of new barristers deciding to leave the profession after six years. He said there needs to be an agreed process put in place that would be “meaningful, time-limited and binding” in order to end the dispute.

Today may be something of a culture shock for barristers to take strike action and go on a picket line for the first time in their history. But Mr Creed said: “We are beyond embarrassment.”