A man (72) has been charged with the murder of his wife in Portlaoise on Sunday.Eugen Constantin from Church Street, Portlaoise, appeared at the town’s District Court this morning charged with the murder of Adina Raluca Constantin (50) at their home at 25, Church Street. Det Garda Sgt Mark O’Connell from the Portlaoise station said that when charged and cautioned the defendant replied: “Yes I understand.”Defending solicitor Philip Meagher said the services of a Romanian interpreter had been engaged for the case.He said due to the nature of the charge he could not apply to the District Court for bail but would make one to the High Court in due course.Judge Andrew Cody remanded Constantin in custody to Cloverhill Prison to the July 17th sitting of the court to appear by video-link. Meagher said Constantin is a private client, “and is not affected by the situation that the court would be aware of”, referring to the ongoing dispute between solicitors and the Department of Justice over reforms of the free legal aid scheme. Meagher said his client is being treated for cancer and other medical conditions and asked that his medical prescription travel with him to Cloverhill. He also asked that his client obtains an immediate medical assessment as “he’s been in custody for the past 48 hours.” Cody then asked if during Constantin’s time in custody: “did he have access to a solicitor?” O’Connell said numerous attempts were made to contact solicitors and none were available or could not have phone consultations with the defendant. He said “roughly upwards of 40 phone calls” were made in trying to secure Constantin free legal aid. Many criminal solicitors across the country are refusing work under the revised scheme, which offers a once-off legal aid fee of €520 irrespective of how many appearances they make to represent a client in the District Court. Cody then went on to quote directly from a statement issued by the Law Society of Ireland on October 20th last year and urged the society and solicitors to “rise above shameless hypocrisy”. Cody said the statement read that: “‘Every person, regardless of their background or the nature of their case, is entitled to competent and fair legal representation. This principle is fundamental to a just society and is enshrined in Ireland’s legal system’.” Cody said “a suspect is at their most vulnerable when being questioned by gardaí and may not fully understand their legal rights or consequences in their answers. This is glaring obvious to somebody whose first language is not English, a gentleman in his 70s and is suffering from cancer.“The failure of the solicitor’s profession, supported by unfortunately by the Law Society to effectively guarantee his fundamental rights is in my view disgraceful.”