Legal

Bar Council recommends strike amid criminal barrister fee dispute

Representative body has ‘lost confidence’ in criminal law system

Sara Phelan SC, chairwoman of the Bar Council: “We have now lost confidence in government’s commitment to the preservation of the highest standards in the administration of justice.” Picture: Fergal Phillips

The representative body for barristers has recommended a one-day strike to its members as part of an ongoing dispute over recession-era cuts to criminal legal aid fees.

The Bar Council said it had “lost confidence” in the existing system for determining the fees paid to criminal law barristers and had written to the government to notify it of its recommendation for practitioners to withdraw services on October 3.

The decision to recommend strike action for ...