Barrister action causing serious damage, says justice minister

Industrial action by barristers in Northern Ireland is causing "serious damage" to the justice system, Stormont's justice minister has said.

Naomi Long said delays in cases meant there was a "greater risk of harm to the public" and the possibility that the "guilty go free".

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents criminal barristers, has withdrawn some services in recent months in a dispute over legal aid fees.

Long told the Northern Ireland Assembly her department was "on track" to introduce a 16% uplift in civil, family and criminal legal aid fees in May.

She said this uplift would be applied "to the entirety of the bar" and backdated to the beginning of December 2024.

The CBA began industrial action in November by withdrawing certain legally aided services.

It wants an increase in legal aid fees, which it says have not changed in 20 years.

Speaking on Tuesday, the minister expressed her "disappointment and frustration that their service withdrawal continues".

"The scope of the action being taken by the CBA has reduced, but be under no illusion, the serious damage their action is having on the justice system and on individual victims and witnesses and on defendants is ongoing," she said.

Long told members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) that service withdrawal "means additional delay" for legal cases.

"All in all, it means greater risk of harm to the public – of the risk that the innocent remain in custody longer than absolutely necessary and that the guilty go free," she said.

"That is not idle speculation or pessimism. It is a very real possibility."

The Alliance Party leader said she wanted to ensure criminal barristers were "fairly paid for the work they undertake".

She added that she has "done all that I can to meet their concerns and to deliver a mechanism to take forward any remaining concerns".

The CBA escalated its industrial action in January by refusing to take all legal aid cases at the Crown Court.

It was scaled back from 1 March, with the CBA saying it would return to refusing "defined classes of new Crown Court action".

The CBA has previously said engagement with the Department of Justice was "positive" but it had not "created the conditions necessary" to allow it to advise members to "cease entirely their withdrawal of services".

It added: "The Bar of Northern Ireland has at all times been, and remains, ready, willing, and able to engage in meaningful dialogue with the Department of Justice in order to resolve the access to justice crisis and bring to an end its remaining industrial action."