A judge has said it is ‘outrageous’ that solicitors who had left the criminal legal aid panel told another solicitor they were not happy for him to represent their client at a contested bail hearing.
Patrick Daly (57) of Burton Park, Leopardstown Road, Dublin 18, appeared in custody before Dún Laoghaire District Court, where gardaí objected to bail on the grounds that he was a flight risk.
Mr Daly faces five charges, including failing to appear in court, two counts of being intoxicated in a public place, refusing to provide his name and address to a garda and causing €80 worth of criminal damage by urinating in the custody area at Dundrum Garda Station.
Judge Watkin asked solicitor Andrew Vallely, who was present in court, to speak to the accused and consider representing him for the bail application.
Mr Vallely initially told the court that he was reluctant to step in because the accused was already represented by another solicitors’ firm.
After contacting the firm, he told Judge Watkin: ‘I’ve been told not to engage because he is a client of that firm”.
Judge Watkin said solicitors could refuse to accept the legal aid terms and remove themselves from the panel, but added that telling another solicitor not to act when they were no longer on the panel was ‘outrageous’.
‘They don’t get to instruct anybody. They don’t get to instruct the court or instruct their client’, she said.
Judge Watkin remanded Mr Daly in custody for another day, without refusing bail, to give him time to secure legal representation ahead of a further bail hearing at Cloverhill District Court.
Judge Watkin said it would be unfair to hear the bail application without a solicitor when the accused could be refused bail.
The judge acknowledged that Mr Vallely did not want to become involved in the dispute but said this left the accused in custody with nobody willing to make the bail application for him.
Judge Watkin told the accused that his solicitor was no longer available and warned him that he was at serious risk of remaining in custody unless he found another representative.
She asked whether he wanted to go ahead with the bail application without representation or wait until he had secured a solicitor.
Mr Daly replied that he wanted to wait. The judge told him he could seek another solicitor willing to act under the legal aid scheme or pay privately for representation.
‘I will remand you in custody. There will be no application today, so bail has not been refused’, Judge Watkin said.
He was remanded in custody to Cloverhill Prison to appear before Cloverhill District Court for a bail hearing on Thursday.
The judge directed gardaí to ensure that Mr Daly is given access to a telephone and any other facilities he needed to secure legal representation.
The ongoing solicitors dispute concerns changes to the criminal legal aid payment system, under which solicitors will receive a single fee of €520 for representing a legally aided client throughout a District Court case, regardless of the number of appearances required.