The Gazette 1967/71

amounted to £282. The average fee paid to Irish solicitors per case for all courts in the year ended 31st March 1969 was £13. The breakdown of the 251 legal aid certificates issued in the Republic for the year ended 31st March 1969 was as follows : District Court, 51 ; Circuit Court, 159 ; Central Criminal Court, 24; Court of Criminal Appeal, 17. In the City of Dublin, where there is probably the greatest inci dence of crime, about 25 solicitors' offices are on the legal aid panel. They are prepared to accept retainers when required at the fees authorised by the regulations. These fees are in the majority of cases quite uneconomic. A comparison of the figures in the published report on legal aid in Northern Ireland and in the Republic suggests the following alternative con clusions. The amount of crime in Northern Ireland may be very much higher than in the Republic. It is however difficult to understand how it could be six times as high. Alternatively; persons entitled to avail of the legal aid service prefer to retain solicitors outside the scheme. The only remaining inference is that a number of persons who should receive legal and and the protection of solicitors and counsel are deprived of that assistance. If legal aid in criminal matters is a desired social objctive it is difficult to defend the present system as satisfying the need. Civil Legal Aid The system operated in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a state subsidised civil legal aid scheme administered by the legal profession. This has the advantage of enabling the client to select his own lawyers and of preserving a strictly professional and confidential relationship with them. He is not directed to any bureau or state controlled agency. He is entitled to precisely the same rights as the wealthiest citizen availing of the best available legal services. It would be inconcei vable that a person accused of a criminal offence should be restricted to a panel of salaried lawyers employed by the state for his defence. It would also be objectionable) though perhaps not to the same extent, that legal aid in civil matters should be state administered. The state itself is the most frequent and powerful litigant in civil matters and a clash of rights on constitutional and other issues can frequently arise. It would be entirely inappro- 125

It cannot be denied that the professions have much to learn from the techniques of industry in the management of their affairs. They must be concerned with putting ability to use. There is, however, a fundamental difference between busi ness which is essentially quantitative, concentrating upon the exploitation of opportunity for the creation of wants and the professions which are essentially qualitative in the nature of their pro duct. To ignore, or even blur this distinction, in assertive fragmentary criticism is unlikely to produce any useful result. Brendan A. McGrath, President, Federation of Professional Associations. (Published in Leargas the journal of the Irish Institute of Public Administration). IS JUSTICE EQUAL ? In our criminal courts the accused) who is of course innocent until proved guilty, is seated in court near his professional representatives and can confer with them in the same way as any civil litigant. Nevertheless the persistent question remains, are the courts, like the Savoy Hotel open to everyone (who can pay) or is legal protection of the Courts available to all citizens alike on reasonable terms ? Legal Aid in Criminal Matters The adequacy of the system of criminal legal aid established in 1965 can be tested by comparison with the position in Northern Ireland. The total expenditure on criminal legal aid in Northern Ireland in 1968 with a population of 1.5m. was approximately £60,000. The expenditure in the Republic with a population of 3m. for the year ended 31st March, 1969 was less than £10,000. The budget estimate for legal aid in the Republic is £20,000 but this amount has never been spent. The number of legal aid certificates issued in the Republic for the year ended 31st March 1969 was 251. In Northern Ireland during the year 1968 1,669 certificates were issued. The average fee per case to solicitors shown in the report on legal aid and criminal proceedings in Northern Ireland in 1967/8 was £14 in the Magistrates' Courts and £27 in the higher courts and, in addition, in six murder trials during that year the average cost per case