Law Society urges Justice Minister to appoint mediator for criminal aid strike
The Law Society has asked the Minister for Justice to consider an independent mediator to end the criminal legal aid dispute that has caused a sharp drop in aid certificates and court disruptions.
In a letter to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus urged the appointment of an independent mediator to settle the ongoing criminal legal aid strike. She warned that the dispute has severely harmed victims, accused persons and the broader public, citing Court Service data showing a 93% reduction in legal aid certificates for July 2026 versus the same month last year. Loftus criticised recent policy moves, including the introduction of a flat-fee payment model, as insufficient to address core issues.
She identified two main problems: the treatment of separate offences appearing together as a single case, and the absence of a clear process for handling exceptional cases such as those involving children or mental-health concerns. The Law Society proposes a mediator could bridge policy goals with practitioners’ realities and suggests a limited, carefully designed mechanism for exceptional cases. Loftus also warned against a repeat of the family-law panel’s decline, where solicitor numbers fell by more than 60% over a decade.
