Access to Justice? An endangered species.

Simply imagine if the Health Minister proclaimed that his ambition was to slash funding for the National Health Service. What if he stated that his ambition was for a basic system of healthcare for as cheaply as it could be provided? Further consider if he wanted to reduce the wages paid to experienced consultants by 50% and additionally charge the same consultants 15% off their salary to be paid.

What if the brightest of our newly trained doctors were leaving the profession, sparking fears of a crisis over a lack of talent and experience in years to come? How would we react if the salaries and pensions of our very best consultant heart and cancer specialists were splashed over the papers with derogatory comments?

We all rightly protect and nurture our Health system. So to with education, our fire service, police service and even our welfare system. As members of society we see the personal benefit of such services. Why not so for public legal services?

The sad truth is that legal services are not properly valued. None of us believe we will ever need the assistance of a barrister. However, if you drive a car, have teenage children, work in an environment involving money or contracts, go out socially or do many of the everyday chores we take for granted, then you may in fact find yourself before the courts.

I have represented teachers, policemen, van drivers, mortgage advisers, civil servants, prison officers, grandparents, ship yard workers, engineers, bank workers, shop assistants and even those in politics. I have also represented their children. Everyone can find themselves in that terrible situation and if you do, you will want experienced and able counsel to help you or your child.

Recent tragic events in Enniskillen perhaps highlight the terrible and unexpected circumstances that can throw any of us into contact with the justice system with little or no notice.

An attack on the funding of legal services is an attack on legal representation for you. Legal representation involves a professional, devoted to his or her career as an experienced advocate and devoted to doing all they can to represent YOU. Even if it means taking on the establishment or the might of the state or the resources of the police and the government.

Unless the public recognise the true value of the legal aid lawyer and look beyond the sound bites and cheap jibes from an indoctrinated media, irreparable damage will be done to this wonderful and vital service.

“Peace is not the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice”

Martin Luther King Jr

The public needs to speak up for its lawyers otherwise there will be no-one to speak up for you.

Gavan Duffy QC

Chairman, Criminal Bar Association