Ferrys Solicitors partner Tony Collier set out what September would look like in the Irish Times on August 29, 2026, after a meeting of more than 100 Dublin solicitors at which the possibility of seeking barristers' support, up to and including a withdrawal of their services, was discussed without a formal decision. Our criminal defence solicitors act for clients in the District Court, Circuit Court and Central Criminal Court, much of it under the criminal legal aid scheme.
Mr Collier said it was clear from the meeting that the withdrawal of services would continue.
He said that in August only two special sittings of the District Court took place each day in Dublin, but the full complement would reopen in the coming week.
In August, he said, several accused people had gone to the High Court seeking to vindicate their right to bail "on foot of the failure of the State to provide them with a solicitor". "We are concerned there will be an increase in such applications in the month of September," he said.
Mr Collier said solicitors would also not attend garda stations under the criminal legal aid scheme as part of the dispute, and that he hoped the matter could be resolved before the trial courts, the Circuit Court, Central Criminal Court and Special Criminal Court, resumed in October.
The compromise the Minister rejected
In a letter to the Law Society on August 27, the Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, rejected a proposal that up to five legal aid certificates could be granted where a defendant faces separate and distinct matters before the same court on the same day. He said the proposal "would in practice reintroduce the possibility of multiple certificates" and that "once the principle of multiple certificates is reintroduced, the fundamental basis of the new model is weakened".
Ferrys' view is that this proposal was a limited, practical adjustment addressing the clients most affected by the flat fee: people facing several separate prosecutions at once, often arising from addiction or mental health difficulties. Refusing it leaves the core problem in place.
The Minister said he had already raised the fee from €455 to €520, withdrawn a proposed €100 payment for cases sent forward for trial, and introduced a separate payment for bench warrant certificates, and he encouraged solicitors to participate as the courts resumed.
Why Ferrys is warning about High Court applications
When a person is refused bail in the District Court without a solicitor, the only remedy is an application to the High Court. The High Court has already found that the rights of 11 defendants were breached in July. Each such application costs the State money and each unrepresented bail hearing risks an unlawful detention. Ferrys' concern is that with 55 to 60 District Courts sitting daily from September, the numbers will rise sharply.