The Gazette 1972

REALITIES OF LEGAL

by GARRETT SHEEHAN, Solicitor

contains no provision for informing accused persons of their possible right to legal aid. The Department of Justice appears to be reluctant to remedy this defect. In the Children's Court, for example there is a notice measuring six inches by four on the wall on the right as you go into the main building. This notice is partially blocked by the door and it is pure chance if any parent or child ever sees it. No Notice In Court Four at the Bridewell (the court where all accused adults in the Dublin Metropolitan District first appear) there is no notice. If Mr. O'Malley is con- cerned about the rights of accused persons, the least he could do would be to ensure that they are aware of their possible right to legal aid. Finally, Mr. O'Malley said that in view of more pressing demands on State resources it would be too costly to introduce civil legal aid at the moment. One wonders if he has given thought to the establishment of Legal Centres in poor areas. In January, 1967, the Society of Labour Lawyers held a meeting in London and recommended the establishment of such centres as a means of ensuring that justice would be available for all. This meeting had previously found that despite the fairly comprehensive system of legal aid in both civil and criminal matters operating in the U.K. there were still many people who needed legal advice but did not get it. The society suggested that the system of local legal centres be introduced by way of a pilot project in three or four areas. The Department of Justice should finance a pilot project in Dublin. This project could be set up in any one of a number of areas. One could be started, for example, close to the Five Lamps at Amiens Street and would initially serve the surrounding areas—North Wall, East Wall, North Strand, Fairview, Killarney Street, Summerhill, Hardwick Street, etc. While such a centre could be self-supporting, this would not be of primary importance. An efficient and free legal service could be provided for the people of these areas at approximately £12,000 a year. The centre should be run by a solicitor of five years' standing in general practice and he would be assisted by a barrister and solicitor, both of whom would have to have had at least three years' continuous practice since qualifying. The centre could advertise its service in the Local Post Offices and possibly by the distribution of handbills in the areas concerned. The combined wisdom of both the Incorporated Law Society and the Bar Council would no doubt help to indicate how such a centre could be most effectively run. In the introduction to their pamphlet entitled Justice for All, the Society of Labour Lawyers says : "A society which relies so heavily on law as an instru- ment both of social order and reorganisation, including the distribution of wealth and other advantages, has a duty to ensure that its members are enabled to conduct their lives within the law, receive justice when the law is enforced against them, and take advantage of the benefits which the law confers upon them." In Ireland this duty is clearly not being discharged. The establish- ment of local legal centres would go some way towards a remedy. The Irish Times, October 1971

When the Minister for Justice, Mr. O'Malley, spoke on "Legal Aid in Ireland" at a recent world conference in Belgrade, he made three points which need further examination. First, he declared that it has been tradi- tional for members of our legal profession to give their services to needy clients at reduced fees or completely free. Second, that legal aid is available in criminal cases. And third, that legal aid and advice in civil mat- ters would be too costly to introduce. Whatever about the past it would not seem true of the legal profession today that it caters for the poor. The majority of accused persons who appear daily in minimum fee of £10-£15 for legal representation at this level would appear to be too high for many de- fendants. Few lawyers appear to be concerned about this. And it is not sufficient for Mr. O'Malley to point out that the judges act with scrupulous fairness. A District Justice or Circuit Court judge is not a defence attorney. Even where an accused person pleads guilty there may be a number of factors in mitigation of his guilt which require a presentation by a lawyer. Recent articles in The Irish Times by Nell McCafferty on the Children's Court and "Women in Court" showed that on the occasions she was present in the juvenile court and in Court Four at the Bridewell the majority of children and women were not represented. The rapid growth of the Free Legal Advice Centres is further evidence that the legal profession is not serving the poor. If the people who attend these centres knew of solicitors who would attend to their legal problems for a fee they could reasonably afford, they would surely go straight to them. The Gap Mr. O'Malley claimed that the Legal Aid Scheme, which was introduced in 1965 for criminal cases, was comprehensive in character and provided not only for legal aid in criminal courts of first instance but also in the various Courts of Appeal. A close reading of the 1962 Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act shows that this could be true. However, there is at least one serious gap in the Act which would refute the Minister's claim that it is comprehensive. An amendment in the Criminal Procedure Act 1967, provided that where a person elects to be tried by a judge and jury, instead of having his case dealt with summarily in the District Court, he is not entitled to legal aid for the preliminary investiga- tion of his case. If the case is one where the Attorney General refuses or is unable to consent to summary trial, legal aid will be granted only if the charge is one of murder. To be entitled to legal aid in the District Court, a poor person must show that the charges he faces are serious or else that it is essential in the interest of justice that legal aid be granted. Legal aid is granted at the discretion of the District Justice and such deci- sion is not appealable. Thus, on one occasion last April, legal aid was refused in the case of a 16-year-old boy, known to be mentally handicapped, who appeared on charges of larceny and housebreaking. A further weak- ness of this part of the Act is that in many cases legal representation is necessary to shqw that a particular case is a proper one for legal aid. The greatest weakness of the 1962 Act is that it