The Business Post published an analysis by Eoin O'Hare on July 9, 2026 under the headline "'The damage has been done': Courts face Covid-scale backlog as legal aid row drags on". Our criminal defence solicitors represent clients at every stage of criminal proceedings, from Garda station advice through District Court hearings.
According to the paper's summary, the piece examines how the State could face further legal action from the fallout of the legal aid reforms, what solicitors say court lists will look like in autumn and why a recent Supreme Court ruling will add to the pile-up, and why the picture is more complex than predictions of a government "climbdown" suggest.
Ferrys' warning
The backlog the Business Post describes is one Ferrys Solicitors partner Tony Collier had been warning about publicly for weeks. On the same day, Mr Collier told RTÉ that 10 of 12 rape or sexual assault cases listed before the Central Criminal Court on the previous Monday had been adjourned, that a backlog of cases was building up and that the longer the dispute went on, the worse it would get.
Why the backlog matters to clients
Every adjourned case remains in the system. When a workable legal aid scheme is restored, those cases will have to be relisted alongside the new cases coming in, and the trial courts have limited sitting capacity. For accused people, that means longer periods on bail conditions or in custody awaiting trial. For complainants and witnesses, it means longer waits to give evidence. Ferrys' criminal defence team has seen the effect of the Covid-era backlog on clients before, and the firm's concern is that the current dispute will produce the same result.
The State's exposure
The reference to further legal action reflects a point Ferrys has made throughout: people refused bail without a solicitor have begun to challenge their detention in the High Court under Article 40 of the Constitution, and a judicial review of the statutory instrument underpinning the new scheme has been listed for hearing. Each unrepresented appearance creates a potential claim against the State.
Ferrys' position is that the way to stop the backlog growing is for the Minister to engage substantively with the Law Society on a scheme that solicitors can work.