STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS.

S.I. No. 235 of 2000.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE (LEGAL AID) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 2000.

S.I. No. 235 of 2000.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE (LEGAL AID) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 2000.

I, JOHN O'DONOGHUE, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 10 of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962 ( No. 12 of 1962 ) (as adapted by the Justice (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 298 of 1997 )), and insofar as the following regulations relate to rates of scales of payment of fees, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, hereby make the following regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) (Amendment) Regulations, 2000.

(2) The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Regulations, 1965 to 1999 and these Regulations may be cited together as the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Regulations, 1965 to 2000.

(3) These Regulations shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of June, 1999.

2. In these Regulations--

“the Regulations of 1976” means the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) (Amendment) Regulations, 1976 ( S.I. No. 234 of 1976 );

“the Regulations of 1978” means the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) (Amendment) Regulations, 1978 ( S.I. No. 33 of 1978 ).

3. Regulation 3 of the Regulations of 1976 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subparagraphs after section 3(3)(b):

“(c) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Regulation, where, in a circuit of the Circuit Court other than the Dublin Circuit, any counsel assigned in relation to a case in pursuance of a certificate for free legal aid appears for the person who has been granted the certificate in a hearing which relates principally to the sentencing of the defendant, such counsel shall be entitled to receive a fee equivalent to the fee which is payable by the Director of Public Prosecutions to counsel appearing for the prosecution in respect of an adjourned hearing in the Dublin Circuit which relates principally to the sentencing of the defendant.

(d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Regulation, where, in a circuit of the Circuit Court other than the Dublin Circuit, counsel appears in a case in which a date has been fixed for the trial of a defendant to whom counsel has been assigned in pursuance of a certificate for free legal aid and the case is adjourned within seven days of the date fixed for the trial, such counsel shall be entitled to receive a fee equivalent to the fee which is payable by the Director of Public Prosecutions to counsel appearing for the prosecution in the Dublin Circuit in respect of a case where a date has been fixed for the trial and which case is adjourned within seven days of the trial date.

(e) No fee shall be payable by virtue of subparagraph (d) unless counsel concerned appears before the Circuit Court concerned on either the date fixed for the trial of the defendant or the date on which the adjournment of the trial is granted by the court.

(f) A reference in subparagraph (d) to a case in which a date has been fixed for the trial of a defendant shall not include a case listed only for callover at a sitting of the Circuit Court concerned.”

4. Regulation 3 of the Regulations of 1978 is hereby amended by the substitution for subparagraph (i) of paragraph (1) of the following subparagraph:

“(i) No fees shall be paid under the Act to a solicitor assigned in relation to any particular case other than a case in the District Court or an appeal to the Circuit Court in pursuance of a certificate or certificates for free legal aid in respect of any day which the hearing consists only of an application for an adjournment by or on behalf of the solicitor, or the prosecution, made, in the opinion of the Court, for the purposes of the solicitor's convenience.”

The Minister for Finance consents to the making of the forgoing Regulations insofar as they relate to rates or scales of payment of fees.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations, which come into effect from 1 June, 1999, provide that defence counsel, who appear in an adjourned sentence hearing or a trial hearing which is adjourned within seven days of the scheduled trial date in the Circuit Court outside Dublin, shall be entitled to receive a fee equivalent to the fee which is payable to prosecution counsel by the Director of Public Prosecutions for such hearings in Circuit Court cases in Dublin.