This article is from page 24 of the 2009-04-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
SIX Clare solicitors, between them, received more than €650,000 through the criminal free legal aid scheme last year – and now a mem- ber of Clare County Council says the possibility of abolishing the scheme should be considered.
The six solicitors received €656,/58 in payments under the scheme in 2008. This was more than double the figure for the previous 12-month period, which was €295,859 for the same six solicitors who carry out a lot of work in the area of free legal aid.
However, Fine Gael councillor Tony Mulcahy said he feels very “strong- ly” about the scheme, through which more than €33 million was paid out to solicitors nationally last year.
He said that those who commit criminal offences should not be au- tomatically entitled to free legal aid.
“Tt should be stopped for once and for all. I think that by abolishing it, it may deter people from engaging in crime,’ said Cllr Mulcahy.
He said one possibility that could be considered is abolishing the scheme for courts higher than the district.
“We have people going to the dis- trict court, challenging it in the cir- cuit court and going all the way to the high court, all because they are on free legal aid,” he said.
“T’d have the free legal aid system limited to the district court and no access to the higher courts,’ he add-
ed.
However, he did accept that in some cases, criminal free legal aid was necessary. “You have to allow it for some form of justice to take place, but we have to call a halt. We have to stop this,’ he added.
Yet, he says that where huge amounts of evidence are available and a defendant is caught “red-hand- ed’, they should be denied free legal aid.
He said that where people are caught committing crime on CCTV cameras or where DNA has been proved, their cases should be dealt with by a means other than in court.
‘Some people are indefensible and
evidence is stacked against them. Going to court is costing the State millions. If there is massive evidence against a perpetrator but the case still has to go to court, why are we wasting so much time in court?” he asked.
“There could be a panel of judges to review a file, rather than waste so much time and balls of money and instead put the money into the reform of the prison system,” he added.