Justice Minister renews claims that striking solicitors targeted rape trials

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has renewed his claims that striking solicitors targeted rape cases for withdrawal of services.

On Monday, Mr O’Callaghan released the opening statement he would deliver to the Justice Committee on Tuesday.

In the statement, Mr O’Callaghan said: “Six cases were adjourned due to the withdrawal of services by solicitors. Every one of these was a case involving an allegation of rape.

“I should place on record my deep concern that the only cases deliberately affected by the withdrawal of services in the Central Criminal Court yesterday were those involving allegations of rape.

“I believe this committee and indeed the public are entitled to an answer as to why this is the case.”

Speaking in the Oireachtas committee on Tuesday, the Fianna Fáil TD defended his statement in the face of criticism from opposition parties and Government colleagues.

One such colleague was Barry Ward, who said Mr O’Callaghan’s comments were “very unfair”.

The Fine Gael TD pointed out that the Central Criminal Court deals only with serious crimes like murder and rape, and there were no murder cases on Monday’s list.

“You’ve mentioned that the reform is hard. Nobody actually has a problem with the reform. It’s the nature of the reform,” he said.

“You reiterated in your statement there that rape trials were deliberately targeted in the Central Criminal Court yesterday. I have to say, I think that is a grossly unfair commentary.

“For starters, every trial in the Central Criminal Court yesterday was a rape trial, so there’s no evidence to suggest that solicitors were deliberately targeting that. I think it’s very unfair and I actually think you should consider withdrawing that remark because you don’t have a basis for it.”

Mr O’Callaghan responded by saying that all six of the cases adjourned on Monday were rape cases. He said all four cases adjourned the previous week on October 12 and all five cases the week before that on October 5 were rape cases.

He said: “I am not trying to antagonise solicitors, but I do have a responsibility to point out the information that is given to me by the Courts Service.”

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said Mr O’Callaghan “specifically chose to attach yourself to the most horrific cases in order to win sympathy for an argument which you haven’t won by any logic”.

This was echoed by Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward, who accused the minister of “cherrypicking” the Central Criminal Court for criticism.

“To me, Minister, you’ve cherrypicked one court and had a look at one court because it suits your political agenda at the moment,” he said.

The Justice Minister said he focused on the Central Criminal Court because that is where the striking solicitors are campaigning from.

There were actually cases in that court that were not adjourned on Monday, he added, that were not rape cases.

“I zoned in on the Central Criminal Court because that’s where the coverage was and the campaign was yesterday,” he said.

“There’s no doubt about that. There was disruption to six rape trials in the Central Criminal Court yesterday and the only cases that were affected were rape trials that were going on yesterday.

“There were seven other cases that weren’t rape trials, which were ongoing, that weren’t affected.”

A solicitor working in criminal legal aid described Mr O’Callaghan’s accusation as “false and misleading”.

Eoghan O’Sullivan, who works for Powderly Solicitors, said criminal defence solicitors all around the country withdrew all of their services from courts on Monday and that there was no deliberate targeting of rape cases.

“It is beneath the dignity of the office of the Minister for Justice to try to accuse criminal defence solicitors of such a deliberate act,” he said.

“The Minister’s opening comments to the Justice Committee today are false, misleading and should be withdrawn immediately. His claim is not only risible but wholly inaccurate.”

A list of court adjournments from around the country has been circulated, showing the solicitor’s name, along with the matter of the cases adjourned.

The list shows that a number of cases involving alleged offences other than rape were also adjourned on Monday.

Mr O’Sullivan said it is disappointing that the Justice Minister claimed rape cases were being purposely targeted for adjournment. He called Mr O’Callaghan to engage in constructive meaningful dialogue.

“Solicitors withdrew their services from all courts yesterday including the district, circuit and central criminal courts right across the country. It is very disappointing the minister has cherrypicked rape cases to advance his own position,” he said.

“The cases which did not proceed yesterday as a result of the dispute include robbery, arson, fraud, burglary, violent disorder, drugs offences, money laundering, custody cases and others.

“This dispute has been going on for three-and-a-half months and thousands of cases have been disrupted as a result. It will, regrettably, take years to clear the backlog.”