Department of Justice figures show 174 criminal legal aid certificates, or bills for payment, were issued nationwide between July 1 and the middle of the month, following the introduction of the new district court scheme. That compares with an average of around 1,900 certificates a week during 2025.

Last year, 98,617 criminal legal aid certificates were issued in the District Court at a cost of €40.7 million, according to a parliamentary reply.

The Law Society said the latest figures represented a “collapse” of more than 90 per cent in the volume of certificates issued.

“The current figures represent a collapse of over 90pc in the volume of certificates being issued, indicating that cases are not progressing through the court system,” it said.

The society also accused the Department of Justice of “seeking to downplay the scale of this disruption and its impact on court users, rather than engaging constructively with the concerns raised by solicitors”.

The Department of Justice rejected suggestions that the new scheme was not functioning, insisting that “the new system is working”.

“New requests for payment by solicitors under the new criminal legal aid scheme are being made on a daily basis in the criminal courts and trials are continuing,” it said, adding that cases were progressing.

The department said certificates had been requested and issued in courts across the country, including Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Cork, Kilkenny, Sligo, Wexford and Dundalk.

The new scheme, introduced on July 1, pays solicitors a flat fee of €520 for representing an accused person in the District Court, regardless of the number of related charges. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has said the previous payment structure encouraged repeated adjournments.

The department said 179 solicitors had resigned from the criminal legal aid panel, reducing its membership by 22 per cent from 848 at the end of June. However, it said almost one-third of those who resigned had earned €5,000 or less from criminal legal aid in 2025, while 31 had received no criminal legal aid fees during the year.

It added that four solicitors had recently joined the panel and that a number of solicitors who had resigned had since sought information on rejoining.

Department sources said the reforms were intended to remove incentives for unnecessary adjournments and multiple payments for related charges. They cited cases in which solicitors received payment for dozens of court appearances or more than €30,000 for a single hearing involving multiple charges.

Criminal legal aid expenditure has risen from €19m in 2015 to €40.7m in 2025, while the number of District Court legal aid certificates has increased by 83 per cent over the same period, from 53,937 to 98,617.