The Oireachtas justice committee has asked the Minister for Justice to suspend a new criminal legal aid payment model in the District Court as this has led to a severe backlash from solicitors and affected work in the courts. In a letter to Jim O’Callaghan on Tuesday evening, committee chair Matt Carthy asked for data supporting the planned changes to be collected and provided to the committee.The model is due to be introduced from Wednesday and has led to serious tensions between solicitors and O’Callaghan.Carthy cited “concerns regarding the lack of available evidence, insufficient analysis and an apparent limited understanding of the operation of the District Courts”. On Tuesday, the committee heard from the Bar of Ireland, representing barristers, and the solicitors representative organisation, the Law Society, on the proposed changes which would see a flat-fee payment model for legal aid cases in the District Courts. In his letter, Carthy wrote that after that session the committee noted that accounts given by the two representative groups about the level of engagement and consultation on the new model “differ significantly from your own”.In light of that, it had also decided to seek detailed clarification “on the nature and extent of engagement between you and your Department, and both the Bar of Ireland and the Law Society, in relation to the proposed changes”.“Furthermore, the Committee has agreed to call on you to suspend the implementation of changes to the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme with immediate effect”. The proposal would see a flat fee of €520 paid for criminal legal aid work in the District Court. Thousands of criminal cases have been adjourned on a daily basis due to continuing withdrawal of services by criminal legal aid solicitors protesting against against the move in recent weeks.At present the criminal legal aid payments system is based on the number of appearances by a solicitor in court in a case. The Government wants to replace this with a single flat fee for representation from the start to the end of a case in a move aimed at reducing delays and simplifying representation.In a statement on Tuesday night, Carthy accused O’Callaghan of “not listening to concerns raised” by members of the committee. He said that at both the committee and an online meeting attended by 70 legal practitioners “there was a palpable anger at the failure of the Minister to engage and to listen”.The Cavan-Monaghan TD said there was an “immediate crisis developing as it appeared many practitioners have said they will withdraw from Criminal Legal Aid work”.“We are facing the prospect of further court delays, delayed justice for victims and vulnerable people left without legal representation,” Carthy said.A spokeswoman for O’Callaghan said: “One fee model for criminal legal aid in the District Court will be introduced tomorrow, July 1st, by Minister O’Callaghan as he confirmed to the Justice Oireachtas Committee.“In addition a further increase of 8 per cent in criminal legal aid fees will apply for all cases heard in the Circuit and higher courts from July 1st. Reform of the criminal legal aid scheme is a commitment under the Programme for Government.”