“While criminal law is the most interesting of all the medico-legal work I engage in, and I am intellectually stimulated by the complexity of many of the cases, as well as wanting to provide as good a service as I can for those who are in significant financial difficulty, I have made a strategic decision to discontinue criminal legal aid work, due to the derisory remuneration from the State for this valuable and necessary work,” she said.
She is “more than willing” to continue receiving instruction form solicitors in civil legal aid cases, she said.When contacted by The Irish Times, Prof Casey said the amount of criminal legal aid work she is being asked to do has risen dramatically in recent years and she had reached a point where the time involved, and the level of fees, meant it is “just not sustainable”.
Some of the work involves visiting and interviewing prisoners on remand in Cloverhill Prison, she said. Other interviews are carried out in her office and other locations, including hostels. Solicitor Maurice Regan, who has obtained reports from Prof Casey for several clients concerning their fitness to instruct, to plead and to stand trial, said it is “dreadful” that the level of fees and workload means that it has become economically unjustifiable for a professional of her experience, a “vital cog” in the legal aid system, to continue this work.