Minister says meeting with solicitors likely next week

The Minister for Justice has confirmed that he has "engaged" with solicitors and that a meeting is likely next week.

Speaking at the launch of One In Four's annual report, Jim O’Callaghan said letters had been exchanged.

A majority of solicitors working in criminal legal aid across the country have been in dispute with Mr O'Callaghan since a new €520 flat-fee payment for legal aid cases was introduced in July.

Mr O’Callaghan insists that legal aid continues to be granted by the courts; solicitors continue to provide representation, and defendants continue to receive legal services throughout the State.

This week, the minister said he would meet the Law Society of Ireland regarding the dispute.

In a letter to President of the Law Society of Ireland Rosemarie Loftus, Mr O'Callaghan said he had instructed his officials to "organise a meeting in the coming days to hear your viewpoint and specific concerns".

This morning, he suggested that the meeting would take place next week.

On Tuesday, the minister appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Justice.

Mr O'Callaghan told the committee that he will engage with the Law Society of Ireland again.

"If there are issues, I can tweak, as I have done before, I will tweak them," he said.

However, he said the reforms themselves "are in the public interest, and in the best interest of court users".

He added: "I know that reform is difficult, but I have to look at what is in the best interest of the public and court users, not in the best interest of legal practitioners."

Mr O'Callaghan also stood over his comments that solicitors had deliberately targeted rape cases in their dispute over criminal legal aid.