Murder accused to challenge psychiatric report fee limits

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A murder accused was bringing a legal challenge over the State’s limits on fees for psychiatric reports sought by defendants in criminal cases. The proceedings were reported on 5 February 2024.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott was due to hear counsel’s application to bring judicial review proceedings.

The man’s lawyers said the Department of Justice capped the hours it would approve for defence psychiatric reports at a rate of €120 an hour, while the DPP offered €184 an hour for prosecution reports. Brendan Grehan SC, for the accused, said the Department’s position was creating a major problem in obtaining defence reports.

Mr Grehan said the psychiatrist in his client’s case estimated that a report would require 25 hours and was not prepared to become involved otherwise. The Department initially said it would sanction 15 hours and later increased that to 20, counsel said.

Mr Justice McDermott had invited the Department to send a representative to the Central Criminal Court to explain its policy position, but noted that the invitation was not taken up. He said the defence could bring an emergency judicial review application before him.