Limerick accounts for over half of all legal aid certificates issued under new system
The 41 criminal legal aid certificates issued for Limerick compared to one for the nearby Ennis District Office for all cases in Clare
MORE than half the criminal legal aid certificates granted nationally under the new controversial flat fee criminal legal aid system have been made by the Limerick District Court Office to date.
New figures provided by the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD (FF) show that 81 legal aid certificates have been granted nationally and 41 of the 81 have been issued by the district court office for Limerick.
The 41 total for Limerick under the flat rate fee system in the area of criminal legal aid would result in an income of €21,230 for the relevant legal representative or legal representatives over the July 1 to July 10 period.
The 41 criminal legal aid certificates issued for Limerick compared to one for the nearby Ennis District Office for all cases in Clare and one in Galway for all district court cases in Galway during the same period.
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Five certificates have been issued by the Tralee office for all cases in Co Kerry during that timeframe and seven legal certificates issued in Co Waterford.
In his reply to Matt Carty TD (SF), Minister O’Callaghan cautioned that the figures are the legal aid certificates granted that have been verified on the case management system used in the District Court.
He said: “It can take some time to result and verify the results of each case when the list concludes, and legal aid certificates will only show on the list once the case has been resulted and verified.”
He said that the table provided shows legal aid certificates issued under the new regulations that came into force on July 1.
He said: “Other legal aid certificates may have been granted for cases covered by the previous regulations where the first court date was before 1 July but legal aid was granted on or after that date."
The 81 legal certificates awarded nationally for the first 10 days in July compares to 103,303 legal certificates for the 12 months of 2025.
Minister O’Callaghan stated that it should be noted that a single legal aid certificate can have several cases associated with it, while a single case may have multiple legal aid certificates granted and such cases would be counted multiple times in the data provided.
The national spend on criminal legal aid last year increased to €40.7m in 2025 - which represents a 43.5pc increase on the spend of €28.36m for 2022 when 89,413 legal aid certificates were awarded.
In an escalation of the dispute, all criminal defence solicitors are to withdraw their services in the District Court, Circuit Court and the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
Solicitors are threatening a further withdrawal of services during the final week of the legal term next week.
The row was sparked by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan moving to replace the previous payment system with a new flat-fee model.
Most defendant solicitors were paid for each court appearance, starting at just under €240 and then €60 for each subsequent hearing.
From July 1, a new set fee of €520 will be payable regardless of how many court appearances there are - removing the link between payments and the number of appearances for solicitors.