Solicitors could face criminal charges if found to have charged clients privately to represent them while also being paid under the legal aid scheme.

The Department of Justice confirmed yesterday it is ‘actively investigating’ claims that this was happening, as the dispute between the legal profession and the Justice Minister over proposed reforms to the scheme continues.

Hundreds of cases are being adjourned throughout the country as solicitors have effectively gone on strike in protest at plans to introduce a flat criminal legal aid (CLA) fee paid for their services.

Minister Jim O’Callaghan has claimed that there are ‘very clear abuses’ of the scheme taking place after a confidential Department of Justice report warned solicitors are being encouraged to ‘maximise’ criminal legal aid payments by assigning multiple staff to individual cases.

This has been rejected by the Law Society as a ‘serious and unfounded allegation’.

The confidential report, seen by the Irish Daily Mail said: ‘In addition, the Criminal Legal Aid Unit of the department regularly receives correspondence directly from defendants, requesting confirmation that they had been granted criminal legal aid as they were not asked to provide any documentation by the court, or because they were also being charged privately by their solicitor, which is prohibited under CLA rules.’

Solicitors must fill out forms when applying for criminal legal aid, which explicitly states that they are not in receipt of additional fees.

One such document which solicitors must sign states: ‘I declare... that I have not received, nor will I accept any payment towards the cost of this case from, or on behalf of, the defendant(s)’ while another document states that ‘no payment has been made by or on behalf of the defendant(s) towards the cost of the case’.

A spokeswoman for Mr O’Callaghan confirmed that the department is ‘actively investigating’ claims by some defendants that they were being charged by their solicitors despite also being in receipt of legal aid. This practice is ‘not permitted,’ she said.

One Government source said that the investigation may lead to a criminal investigation and may constitute fraud.

Another legal source confirmed that any solicitor who was taking side payments from clients was engaged in a fraudulent act. They said they had heard rumours that some solicitors were taking additional payment from their clients alongside legal aid payments.

Speaking yesterday about the matter, Mr O’Callaghan said: ‘I regret to say, as well, there are very clear abuses going on in the system, and I would not be performing my function as Minister for Justice if I didn’t seek to confront that. And for that reason, I’m bringing in the reforms on the first of July.’

He added: ‘I just want to acknowledge the very important role that solicitors play in the administration of justice, particularly in the criminal sphere.

‘I am putting forward proposals in respect of criminal legal aid as to how it operates in the District Court, and I have had very extensive consultation with the Law Society in respect of that.’

He said some of his most senior officials had met with the Law Society this week and that there would be another meeting again before the end of the week.

The Justice Minister added: ‘When you look at what’s happening in the District Court criminal aid scheme, you can see that in 2015 we spent approximately €19million on criminal aid in the District Court, and in 2024 it was up to €37million. In 2025 I think, it was nearly over €40 million. So there’s been approximately a 100% increase during that period of time, notwithstanding the fact that the number of criminal cases have gone down.

‘The reason I’m introducing proposals, which is that there will be a flat fee, and that will come in from the 1st of July, is predominantly because I want to improve efficiencies within the District Court. ’

He added: ‘What I don’t want to see is what’s happening at present, where you have a series of ongoing adjournments with the case not being determined promptly, and if you look at the statistics in respect of the length of time it takes for a criminal legal aid case to conclude, you can see that it takes 313 calendar days for a District Court case subject to criminal legal aid to conclude, whereas for those without criminal legal aid, it’s 133 days.’

However, the Law Society yesterday came out strongly to criticise the report on which Mr O’Callaghan has based his proposals, calling it ‘seriously flawed’. It said the document, which is underpinning its criminal legal aid flat-fee proposal, made multiple critical assertions about solicitors yet failed to provide data to support these ‘assertions’. ‘Instead, the document is littered with anecdotes and individual examples, rather than systematic data,’ the Law Society said.

President of the Law Society Rosemarie Loftus said the document did not represent ‘evidence-based’ policy analysis. ‘It is anecdote deployed as accusation,’ she said.

She said it was ‘worrying in the extreme’ that this ‘non-evidence-based analysis’ was being used to support ‘flawed’ proposals from the Department of Justice.

‘The department’s document asserts that the higher rate of adjournments in legal aid cases is down to financial motivation on the part of solicitors. This is a serious and unfounded allegation.... The reality is that adjournments are most often driven by statutory requirements and State-side delays.’

Ms Loftus again called on the minister to enter into a ‘genuine, structured consultation’ with solicitors.

She said: ‘Criminal defence solicitors perform an essential constitutional function. They are entitled to be treated as professionals who act in the interests of their clients – and not blamed for delays which are fundamentally the consequence of inadequate resourcing of the wider criminal justice system.’