Judge Tom Burgess was appointed last year to carry out a fundamental review of the criminal legal aid system and presented his findings to the Department of Justice in August 2024.

The Department’s long delay in publishing the report and its recommendations has come under sharp criticism from the Law Society and from the Bar, which responded last month with industrial action.

The retired judge’s 417-page report, published today, acknowledges that legal aid fees have declined from March 2005 to December 2023 in real terms by between 53 per cent and 63 per cent.

It warns of a “serious downward slide in the viability of both arms of the profession to provide the appropriate and necessary high level of service in the criminal legal system at the present levels of remuneration”.

The key recommendation of the report is an interim uplift of 16 per cent to be implemented “as soon as possible”, which it suggests could rise further if the increase is not made promptly.

In the longer term, it calls for the establishment of a working party with an independent chair to take responsibility for data gathering and fee-setting in the future.

Justice minister Naomi Long today told MLAs that she is “persuaded there is a case for a more immediate increase to fees and will be taking the necessary steps to introduce an uplift at pace”.

However, she warned that “public funds are not unlimited” and that any uplift “will of course be subject to affordability”.

The minister said this uplift will form part of a major programme of reform which she is launching under the name “Enabling Access to Justice”.