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Bar’s election call for justice investment

The Bar of Ireland has called for significant investment in areas of the justice system to cope with increasing demand.

The call came in a document launched at a hustings event involving six election candidates at the Law Library yesterday (12 November).

The Bar’s manifesto document, Justice | A Manifesto for Fairness, points in particular to civil legal aid, family law, and criminal justice as areas in need of more investment.

The document says that, despite nominal increases, Government spending on the justice system as a proportion of total spending has dropped from 4.2% to 3.2% since 2020.

“The shrinking level of investment is reflected in the over-stretched services available to citizens seeking access to the courts, leading to significant delays and impacting on timely access to justice,” the barristers’ organisation says.

Expansion of legal aid

The Bar is also calling on the next Government to bring forward a legislative response to third-party litigation and multi-party actions, and to move forward with a referendum on a United Patent Court for Ireland.

Its document calls for an expansion of the Civil Legal Aid Scheme into new areas, extra resources for representation in the growing number of quasi-judicial bodies, and a review of fees paid to practitioners in childcare matters in the District Court.

The Bar also calls for the new Government to take further steps on fees paid to criminal-justice barristers, saying that the issue “is not fully resolved”, despite recent increases.

The candidates attending the hustings were:

• Jim O’Callaghan SC (Fianna Fáil TD),
• Barry Ward SC (Fine Gael Senator),
• Ruairí Ó Murchú (Sinn Féin TD),
• Ivana Bacik (Labour TD and leader),
• Patrick Costello (Green Party TD), and
• Sinéad Gibney (Social Democrats candidate).

‘Sustained under-investment’

Speaking ahead of the event, chair of the Council of the Bar of Ireland, Seán Guerin SC, said that the justice system was suffering the effects of “sustained under-investment”, adding that the impact of this had been compounded by a growing population and strong economy.

“Wait times for criminal cases in the Circuit Court exceed 100 weeks in seven offices around the country. Legal-aid applications have increased by 48% in the last two years. 

“Ireland has the lowest number of judges per capita in the 44 Council of Europe member states.

“All of this paints a picture of a justice system in chronic need of modernisation and investment,” he stated.