Solicitors in Cork have threatened to step up their industrial action and withdraw from the Criminal Free Legal Aid panel if Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan proceeds on Wednesday with introducing a flat fee for all criminal work.According to lawyer Tom Coughlan the 50 or so solicitors on the criminal free legal aid panel in Cork city and county, have agreed to resign from the panel from Wednesday. O’Callaghan has proposed to introduce a flat fee of €455 to replace the existing schedule of payments.“We had a meeting this morning with up to 20 practitioners, who are representative of 90 per cent of the solicitors on the criminal legal free aid panel in the city and county, and we will resign from the panel if the Minister for Justice unilaterally proceeds to impose his one flat fee proposal on July 1st,” he said. “The Minister says that he is trying to effect savings in the free legal aid scheme – well, he’s going to achieve a 100 per cent reduction in costs in the scheme in Cork because there will be no one on the panel here if he goes ahead and introduces a scheme that none of us are willing to participate in.”According to Cork legal sources, last week’s limited withdrawal of services had an effect on court proceedings while a full withdrawal of solicitors from the panel would have an even greater impact.Up to 250 District Court cases a day would have to be adjourned at Cork District Court. The current Cork Circuit Criminal sessions have seen over 80 sentencing cases adjourned to date and it is expected by the end of the session on July 10th, some 250 sentencing hearings will have been adjourned.At Cork District Court on Monday, solicitor Joe Cuddigan informed Judge Miriam Walsh of the proposed escalation and predicted it will have a big impact on the operation of both the district and circuit courts.“In the event of the Minister for Justice crossing the Rubicon and signing the statutory instrument putting his unilateral proposals into effect on Wednesday, we are all resigning from the panel en masse. This may cause chaos and turmoil which we regret but it is not a matter of our choosing.”At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, solicitor Aiden Desmond informed the court of the solicitors’ potential withdrawal. Judge Dermot Sheehan described the situation as “a mess” but acknowledged that was the reality.Since the dispute began earlier this month solicitors already assigned in cases have been appearing in court to say that they are on record for clients but not in a position to act for them, while no new free legal assignments have been made. .Virtually all cases have been adjourned in the hope the matter will be resolved while books of evidence are not being served on defendants who are due be sent forward for trial at the Circuit Court.In some cases defendants are making bail applications without legal representation.According to the Deptartment of Justice, legal aid costs in the District Court alone have almost doubled from €19 million in 2015 to €37 million by 2024.While it noted an overall decrease in the volume of criminal cases there was an “upward trajectory” driven by a combination of factors. These included an increase in offences that more frequently attract criminal legal aid and the granting of multiple certificates assigning aid for separate offences arising out of the same incident.