Shortage of criminal barristers leading to delays in start of trials
A shortage of senior criminal barristers is leading to delays in serious trials going ahead.
Concerns have been expressed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that just under a third of cases are being “impeded” owing to counsel being unavailable, the Irish Independent has learned.
The issue, which has been the subject of behind-the-scenes discussions, first began to emerge in last July and has since continued to deteriorate.
Lawyers have linked the problem to falling numbers of counsel choosing to practise criminal law, in part because remuneration levels fall well below what is available for civil work.
In particular, low pay levels for barristers starting out in criminal law have been cited.
Last year the Bar of Ireland released figures showing that two-thirds of barristers who start out practising criminal law end up leaving within six years. It predicted that if this trend were to continue there would be issues for the administration of justice.
Concern over the manpower shortage emerged in a letter from Bar of Ireland chair Maura McNally SC to Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath last week.
In the letter, Ms McNally said the issue had manifested itself most prominently at senior counsel level, where she said nearly a third of cases were being impeded because counsel were not available.
She said this meant the Office of the DPP had to arrange the handover of those cases to other barristers.
Vincent Heneghan SC, chair of the Bar of Ireland’s Criminal State Bar Committee, told the Irish Independent this was leading to inefficiencies as cases either had to be delayed for a number of days or adjourned back into the list.
The Bar has cited the problem as part of its ongoing campaign to get the Government to restore fee levels for criminal practitioners after cuts ranging from 28.5pc to 69pc were implemented following the financial crisis in 2008.
Mr Heneghan said the shortage of senior counsel was not the only issue at play, with Covid and pre-Covid criminal case backlogs also a factor.
He said another issue was that there were more cases listed for trial at the Central Criminal Court on a Monday than there were judges available to hear them.
Barristers have to make themselves available for these trials even though some do not go ahead, leaving them unemployed for the week.
And, because they are committed to a trial, even though it did not go ahead this means they are not free to do Circuit Court cases where the services of senior counsel are being sought.
Meanwhile from today pre-trial hearings can take place after Justice Minister Helen McEntee commenced in full the Criminal Procedure Act 2021.
She said this will have a significant benefit for the trial processes for a range of offences, including sexual offences where the impact on victims will be reduced as they are less likely to be subject to stressful delays after preparing themselves mentally for a trial.
It will also improve trials for while collar crimes, organised crime and other complex offences and will make it less likely juries are sent away during trial, making the court process faster and more efficient.
Ms McEntee said: “Preliminary trial hearings will streamline processes in our courts, moving the administrative burden to the start of the trial.
“Potential issues will be identified and solved in advance, allowing trials to proceed on their scheduled date,” she added.