Courts / Ireland / Report
Psychiatrists 'increasingly difficult' to retain due to fixed Legal Aid fees
Summary
A barrister, Brendan Grehan SC, told Mr Justice Paul McDermott that the Legal Aid Board's fixed fee of €1,800 for psychiatric expert reports is too low, making it hard to secure psychiatrists for murder trials where up to 20 per cent involve psychiatric issues. Grehan explained that a psychiatrist charged €120 per hour, so the cap would cover only about 15 hours, insufficient for the extensive assessments, evidence review, and interviews required. He said the board had not agreed to raise the fee and that the situation could delay many trials. Justice McDermott adjourned the matter to the end of the month, insisting that an expert must be obtained before the case can proceed and that the board must explain the difficulty. This follows a similar issue raised in October last year, which was resolved without board intervention.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Psychiatrists 'increasingly difficult' to retain due to fixed Legal Aid fees. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial
When:
- 2024-01-11 Publication
Case subjects
Accused
Outcome: He adjourned the matter until the end of the month, saying that if the issue is not resolved by then he expects somebody from the Legal Aid Board to state what the difficulty is. "Clearly an expert must be obtained before this can go further," he said.
Places mentioned
- Central Criminal Court
Topics
Stage Charge Or Pretrial Violent Crime
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