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GAZETTE
N E W S
MAY 1994
Cr imi nal Law Commi t t ee
- Cur rent Issues
Michael Staines,
Chairman of the
Law Society Criminal Law
Committee, reports on recent
developments.
Visits to Production Prisoners
A long standing difficulty in relation to
solicitors visiting production prisoners
(as opposed to prisoners detained by
the Gardai under S.4 Criminal Justice
Act, 1984, or S.30 Offences Against
the State Act, 1939, or on arrest) in the
Bridewell Garda Station in Dublin has
now been resolved. The Criminal Law
Committee has negotiated with the
Garda authorities over the last few
months and now a set of procedures
have been agreed to govern such visits.
Details of these procedures are
available for inspection at the
Bridewell Garda Station, Dublin, or
can be obtained from
Patricia Casey,
Solicitor, Secretary of the Criminal
Law Committee, at the Law Society.
The Garda authorities have built three
new interview rooms for the purpose of
allowing solicitors consult with their
clients. If there are any difficulties the
solicitor can approach the Inspector in
the Bridewell Garda Station who will
always be available to resolve any
problem. The Committee would like to
thank Superintendent Joyce for his co-
operation. If solicitors experience any
further problems they should
communicate with the Committee.
Guidelines for Professional Conduct
The Committee was pleased to note
that these guidelines, which were
published in a recent issue of the
Gazette,
(Vol. 88 no. 1, p.31) obtained
general acceptance amongst
practitioners. One group of
practitioners, however, has written to
the Committee querying some of
these guidelines and there will be a
meeting between any interested
solicitors and the Committee on
Friday 3 June 1994 at 5.30pm at
Blackhall Place.
Michael Staines, Chairman,
Criminal
Law Committee
Legal Aid Fees
As practitioners are aware, the
Committee has been negotiating with
the Department of Justice in relation to
obtaining a special fee for exceptional
cases. The Department has agreed to
set up such a scheme but unfortunately,
despite intensive negotiations, such a
scheme has not yet been put into
operation. The Committee is taking a
serious view of this failure of the
Department to comply with its
undertaking to set up such a scheme
and there can be little doubt that,
unless such a scheme is set up in the
near future, stronger action will have to
be taken by practitioners. In any event
the Committee is insistent that any
such scheme will be backdated to cover
all exceptional cases dealt with since
the conclusion of the strike.
Criminal law practitioners are
extremely disappointed at the level of
fees paid by the Department of Justice
for Circuit Court trials. In the course of
the earlier negotiations the Department
flatly refused to increase such fee and
also refused to break the link between
solicitors and barristers. At present
solicitors acting under the Legal Aid
Scheme are paid approximately one
quarter of what they would obtain if
costs were granted to them against the
State in any trial. We will be
commencing negotiations with the
Department in relation to Circuit Court
trials in the near future.
Police Station Visits
Another compliant of the Criminal
Law Committee is that practitioners
are not paid under the Legal Aid
Scheme for visiting prisoners in Garda
stations. This is despite the fact that
prisoners have a constitutional right to
access to legal advice. Furthermore, a
certain aspects of the investigation of
a crime cannot proceed in the absence
of a solicitor attending at the Garda
station, for instance, if a client
requests that a solicitor attends at an
identification parade, a parade should
not take place unless a solicitor
attends. Our colleagues in the UK are
amazed when they learn that we
attend stations at all times of the day
and night, at great inconvenience to
ourselves, without the hope of any
payment. We have already discussed
this matter with the Department of
Justice and again it is not prepared to
sanction such a payment. This will be
another subject on the agenda in our
negotiations with the Department.
District Court Claims
Dublin practitioners will be pleased to
note that they can now claim for their
attendance in court when one of their
clients is brought in on a warrant and
legal aid had already been assigned on
that sheet. This is a new departure and
we would like to thank
Noel McNaboe,
District Court Legal Aid Office and
his staff, for their co-operation in this
matter.
Visits to Prisons
The Committee wishes to inform
practitioners of the system now
operating in Mountjoy Prison in
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