Most arrests happen when most solicitors’ offices are shut. Ours is a rota of six criminal defence solicitors, which is what makes round-the-clock cover workable rather than aspirational.
Emergency line: 087 122 3080, answered day and night, including weekends and bank holidays.
Tell us where you are and we will call you straight back.
If someone is in a Garda station now, calling or WhatsApp is far faster than this form.
A 24-hour number is only worth what stands behind it. Here is what stands behind ours.
Ferrys has six criminal defence solicitors, and they share the out-of-hours cover between them. That is the whole point. When a call comes in at two in the morning on a Sunday, it is not the same person’s phone ringing for the fourth night running. It is whoever is on that night, who is expecting it, and who has not been in court since eight the previous morning.
The practical difference shows up in the things that are hard to sustain any other way: answering during a court week, covering two stations on the same night, and taking a call on Christmas Day. A rota absorbs that. It is also why the number below is a mobile rather than a switchboard, and why it does not go to an answering service that takes a message.
The same six solicitors appear on our team page, with their profiles. They are not a panel of names: they are the people who will meet you at the station.
One number, any hour: 087 122 3080. Nights, weekends, bank holidays and Christmas. The same number works on WhatsApp, which is often easier from inside a station where a call is awkward.
People hesitate to ring at night because they are not sure what they are ringing for. This is the sequence.
Not a call centre and not a voicemail. The solicitor on the rota that night.
The station, the person’s full name, and their date of birth. That is enough to make contact. If you also know what the arrest is about, say so, but do not worry if you do not.
We tell the member in charge that a solicitor has been instructed and ask for that to go in the custody record. This is often the single fastest way to stop an interview beginning before advice has been given.
A private consultation by phone can happen straight away, and in many cases that is the conversation that matters most, because it happens before the first interview rather than after it.
For an interview under caution, that usually means in person. We tell you honestly whether that is necessary, rather than defaulting to it.
Station bail, or a court bail application at the next sitting, including a weekend or bank holiday special sitting.
Out-of-hours cover is not a nice extra in criminal defence. It is when most of the work arrives.
Arrests cluster in the evening and overnight, and heavily at weekends. Public order matters, assaults, road traffic detections and drug searches all peak on Friday and Saturday nights. So do the two situations that most need a solicitor immediately: an interview under caution scheduled for the same night, and a decision about station bail that determines whether someone goes home or is held.
The second half of the problem is the calendar. Someone arrested on a Saturday night and refused station bail is brought before the next available court. Depending on the hour and the charge, that can mean a special sitting at the weekend, or it can mean Monday. Which one it is, and what is put before that court, is decided in the hours after the arrest, not on the Monday morning.
That is the gap an out-of-hours rota exists to close. Advice that arrives on Monday is advice that arrives after every decision that mattered has already been taken.
All of it. There is no window in the week where the number is not answered.
| When | Answered | Typical situation |
|---|---|---|
| Weekday evenings and overnight | Yes | Arrest after the working day; interview scheduled for the same night |
| Friday and Saturday nights | Yes | The busiest period. Public order, assault, road traffic and drug detections |
| Saturday and Sunday, daytime | Yes | Continuing detention from overnight; station bail decisions; weekend special sittings |
| Bank holidays and Christmas | Yes | Long weekends, where the next ordinary court sitting may be several days away |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
If you are not sure whether a situation is urgent enough to ring about at night, it is. Deciding that at 3am is our job, not yours, and it takes about two minutes.
Five Dublin offices, and attendance at Garda stations across the city and county.
Our offices are at Ormond Quay, Rialto, Artane, Ballyfermot and Ballymun, which puts a base within a short drive of most Dublin Garda stations, north and south of the river. Out of hours, what matters is not which office is nearest but who is on the rota and how quickly they can get to the station: that is the question we answer on the call, honestly, before you are waiting.
Addresses and daytime numbers for all five offices are on our contact page. Out of hours, use the emergency line rather than an office number: office lines are not answered at night, and the minutes spent discovering that are minutes you do not have.
Not everything needs a 3am call, and it is worth knowing which is which.
For anything in the right-hand column, the contact page or the callback form at the top of this page is the better route, and you will get a longer conversation for it.
What people ask about out-of-hours cover, usually before they need it.
Yes. Six criminal defence solicitors share the out-of-hours cover, which is what makes round-the-clock availability workable rather than a claim on a website. Call 087 122 3080 or message the same number on WhatsApp, at any hour, including weekends and bank holidays. The line is answered by a solicitor, not by an answering service.
Yes. Weekends are the busiest period for Garda station work, not the quietest, and the rota is built around that. Ring the emergency line with the station, the person's full name and their date of birth, and we will contact the member in charge and advise by phone straight away, attending in person where an interview under caution is involved.
The same number is answered. Long weekends matter more than ordinary ones, because the next ordinary court sitting may be several days away, which makes decisions about station bail and about what is put before a special sitting more consequential rather than less.
Legal advice for a person detained in a Garda station is covered by the Garda Station Legal Advice Revised Scheme, administered by the Legal Aid Board, and that does not change because it is a Saturday night. Cost should never be the reason someone goes into an interview alone. We assess eligibility with you on the call.
It depends on the station and on the hour, and we will tell you honestly on the call rather than give a number that sounds good. In many cases the first and most important step is not attendance at all: it is a phone consultation before the first interview, together with a request to the member in charge that a solicitor has been instructed, which can happen within minutes.
Three things: which station, the person's full name, and their date of birth. That is enough for us to make contact. If you know what the arrest concerns, tell us, but do not delay the call to find out.
Whatever hour you are reading this, the number below is answered by one of our criminal defence solicitors. If someone is in a Garda station, ring it. If you are not sure whether the situation warrants a call, that is exactly the kind of question it exists for.
General information, not legal advice. This page describes Irish criminal procedure in general terms. Every case turns on its own facts and the law changes. Nothing here creates a solicitor–client relationship, and no outcome is promised or implied. For advice on your own situation, speak to a solicitor.
Ferrys Solicitors LLP is regulated by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. Content reviewed by Tony Collier, solicitor. Last reviewed PENDING.
