Criminal cases adjourned due to barristers' protest

Natasha Reid

A barristers' strike meant a number of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trials did not begin on Monday, while the Central Criminal Court in Dublin did not sit at all.

A total of eight cases were listed for trial in Court 7 in the Criminal Courts of Justice, with Court President Judge Patricia Ryan adjourning them all, most until Tuesday.

No barristers were present in court for the callover, with solicitors present instead to take note of the adjournments.

The Central Criminal Court did not sit on Monday either, with trials due to resume on Tuesday.

The strike, the second in a week, saw dozens of barristers gather outside the building to protest the level of fees paid to criminal practitioners, which they say were cut from between 28 and 60 per cent during the 2008 to 2011 period.

They are expected to withdraw their services again on July 24th. It is an escalation of strike action, which began in October 2023.

They maintain the Government has failed to honour a commitment it made last year to carry out an independent review of fee rates.

A number of 'devil' barristers, who work at District Court-level, joined their senior colleagues outside the building.

They made additional calls on the Government, asking for an immediate increase in pay to barristers working in the District Court, where solicitors pass them on work.

"Solicitors give work to early-years barristers like myself,"  Áine Holt, who has been practising law as a devil barrister for the past two years, said.

"If you get an application, you're given €27.72," she said. "You might just get, if you're lucky, one application, and that's all you're going to get for that particular day. The whole situation is unfair, unjust."

Her colleague, Darren Lalor BL, said  if the cuts were unwound that fee would also go up, and it would give people like him an opportunity to remain in practice, and not just to rely on hope.

"We're moving forward together," he said. "But the reality is that a lot of people at my level cannot hang on to talk about pay restoration. They're striking for the immediate increase."