Only one legal aid certificate granted by Sligo District Court Office within first 10 days of controversial new system

By Nathan Molloy, The Sligo Champion

Only one criminal legal aid certificate was issued by Sligo District Court Office within the first 10 days of the new controversial system.

Since July 1, the criminal Legal Aid Scheme was changed so that solicitors receive €520 per District Court case, regardless of how many hearings are involved. Beforehand, solicitors were paid around €240 for the first hearing and around €60 for every subsequent one.

The single cert figure was provided in a written Dáil reply by Minister of Justice Jim O’Callaghan. He informed Sinn Féin TD Matt McCarthy that only 81 legal aid certificates have been granted nationally between July 1 and July 10.

The Minister of Justice said that the data only showed the legal aid certificates that have been verified on the case management system in the District Court. He added that the data only showed legal aid certificates issued under the new regulations from July 1.

Sligo District Court office was one of eight court offices to only issue a single legal aid certificate during the timeframe. Sligo’s single certificate compares to the two issued by Castlebar District Court office and Athlone District Court Office’s three certificates in the same period.

Due to the ongoing dispute between criminal law solicitors and the Department of Justice, five sittings of Sligo District Court and one sitting of Tubbercurry District Court has been affected. This has caused the majority of cases being adjourned to dates in November, December, and January 2027.

In Sligo Circuit Criminal Court, two trials could not proceed and both were adjourned to December 8 for mention. Several sentencings were adjourned to the same date.

The Circuit Court is on week two of its three-week sitting with more adjournments looking likely if there is no resolution between the Department of Justice and the Law Society soon.

Last week, several criminal law solicitors in Sligo resigned from the Legal Aid Panel.

Solicitors also met with local TDs, Marian Harkin, Eamonn Scanlon and Martin Kenny at Leinster House on July 15 to raise concerns about the new model for criminal legal aid.

They used the meeting to ask the TDs to raise the matter directly with the Minister for Justice and to press for immediate engagement with the Law Society.

Article funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.