CRIMINAL BARRISTERS ACROSS the country are beginning a third day of strike action today as the dispute over pay restoration continues.

The strike means cases will not proceed at the Central Criminal Court and in courts across the country today, placing further pressure on the backlog of cases currently in the court system.

A gathering of criminal barristers will also take place outside the Four Courts in Dublin.

Barristers are claiming that the Government “has not engaged in a review process examining the structure and level of fees paid to criminal barristers”, despite a commitment to do so.

The Bar of Ireland says that cuts to fees for criminal legal aid ranged between 28.5% and 60% between 2008 and 2011, leading to some barristers leaving the industry. It says that two-thirds of criminal barristers leave after just six years of practice and the continued lack of restoration of fees places the future pipeline of criminal barristers under strain.

The Council of the Bar of Ireland recommended renewed industrial action last month seeking to restore pay. The two previous strikes this month took place on Monday 15 July and Tuesday 9 July. 

Following an initial strike by barristers last October, the Government introduced a 10% pay restoration in Budget 2024; however, the Bar of Ireland has said that this does not fully restore the 40% fall in fees paid by the State to criminal barristers since 2002 in real terms.

The Government committed to reviewing the fee structure and level, something the Bar of Ireland has claimed has been “stated and restated on numerous occasions since 2018” but has not yet happened. 

A letter sent to the Taoiseach Simon Harris from the Sara Phelan SC, Chair of the Bar of Ireland, after the second strike day says “every other category of worker who provides services to the state has had their [pay] reductions unwound” and that “improvements in the efficiency of the administration of the criminal legal aid system are no substitute for reversal of financial emergency era pay cuts”.

The letter also expressed disappointment that no meeting with a senior Government minister had taken place despite repeated requests.

Protests will also take place at courthouses in Cork City, Limerick, Clare, Carlow, Donegal, Kildare, Kilkenny, Longford, Sligo and Tipperary.