The withdrawal of services by some criminal defence solicitors over a new payment model for the District Courts is “not justified”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.Martin was speaking on Wednesday as many criminal defence solicitors in Dublin and across the country took part in a near total withdrawal of services, set to continue on Thursday and over three days next week.The solicitors began withdrawing services last month and the dispute has escalated since July 1st when the new payment model devised by the Department of Justice for criminal legal aid work in the District Court came into effect.It provides for a single flat fee of €520 irrespective of the number of District Court appearances, replacing the previous model of about €239 for a first appearance and €60 for each subsequent appearance.The solicitors’ withdrawal action led to thousands of criminal cases being adjourned on Wednesday, including via block adjournments, in courts in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and many other locations, including Tipperary town, Roscommon, Wicklow, Leitrim and Longford. There were walkouts by solicitors in several courthouses as the criminal lists were called.There was most impact on criminal cases in the District and Circuit courts, with an apparently lesser impact on the Central Criminal Court. Trials at hearing continued in both latter courts continued on Wednesday.During Central Criminal Court sittings in Dublin and Cork, judges warned that defence solicitors who had not attended for custody cases risked being in breach of the law unless they sought court permission to cease representing their clients.While dealing with a list of cases in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin awaiting trial dates, including rape and murder cases, Judge Tony Hunt told a defence barrister who was not attended by a solicitor there was “no question of no shows being accepted” unless the solicitor had applied to the court to come off record for their client.Solicitors have to comply with the law and the court cannot ignore provisions of the law in custody cases, the judge said.He said “such sympathy as there is” in relation to the current dispute “will be sorely tried” unless solicitors either instruct counsel or apply under section 215 of the Legal Services Regulation Act to come off record. Many of the cases in Hunt’s list faced trial hearing delays not as a result of the solicitors’ action but because of delays in accessing psychiatrists to assess accused people.There was little indication on Wednesday of either side backing down in the legal aid dispute.Speaking on his way into Cabinet, the Taoiseach said there was “no question” about the need for reform of the criminal legal aid system and he did not believe the withdrawal action should take place.“Government collectively decided on these reforms following a presentation by the Minister for Justice some time ago and I don’t think the actions in terms of withdrawing services is justified,” he said. “I think it’s not fair to all involved in terms of court cases ... in the criminal justice system.” Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said criminal case volumes in the District Court decreased from 391,207 to 342,791 over a 10 year period up to 2025, while expenditure on criminal legal aid rose from €19 million to over €41 million.The Law Society, in a statement on Wednesday, said it is “deeply concerned” about the impact of the dispute on the administration of justice.It is “regrettable” the department is “continuing to downplay” that impact, it said.