Clare’s Criminal Barristers are warning of a major escalation to their ongoing industrial action if their demands aren’t met.
Amid a row over pay restoration, this county’s legal professionals staged their third and final day of protests at Ennis Courthouse, one of eleven such demonstrations at courthouses across the country.
This demonstration is one of eleven across the country today where strike action is taking place.
The dispute dates back to 2009, when cost cutting solutions known as FEMPI or Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest, were taken to reduce government spending after the recession.
In the last budget, criminal barristers were granted a marginal restoration to their fees, but despite this, their earnings remain almost 20% below 2002 levels.
Currently two-thirds of newly qualified criminal barristers leave the profession within six years and Barrister Lorcan Connolly from Ennis says the brain drain is placing the sector on the verge of a crisis.
According to the Bar Council of Ireland, criminal barristers are now the only people working in courtrooms who haven’t their fees reinstated, while the likes of Gardaí, bailiffs and registrars have all now achieved parity.
This is despite a claim from Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Pascal Donohoe in the Dáil last week, that FEMPI cuts had been restored to all public servants previously affected.
The withdrawal of services so far by criminal barristers has led to significant cancellations and delays for cases proceeding in circuit courts nationwide and at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
Barrister Patrick Whyms insists that if remedial action isn’t taken by the Government in Budget 2025, there will be a major escalation of strike action.
