flac news final pdf

flacNewsI S S N 0 7 9 1 4 1 4 8 l V O L U M E 2 1 l N U M B E R 2 l A P R I L - J U N E 2 0 1 1

Not only does the currentrecession cost jobs and money,it also creates enormous

anxiety and uncertainty. As FLAC’sannual report for 2010 published on 2June 2011 shows, many of those whocontact us for information or advicetell us that the dread of the unknownfuture is as substantial a challenge asthe actual real events that bring them toseek information or advice at all.

One of the main functions of FLAC’sservices is to give people the informa-tion and advice that they need tounderstand their problem and tonegotiate the legal and technical stepsinvolved in dealing with it. While thiswill not make a debt or a threat of legalaction go away, it does increase aperson’s power to act. Equally, legaljargon itself can be intimidating until it isexplained in more straightforwardlanguage. This is why in our report weidentify with pride the contributionmade by FLAC in providing informationand advice to people through ourvolunteer lawyers based in some 85evening centres throughout the coun-try during 2010, as well as providinglegal information over the phone andthrough the website.

FLAC’s telephone information line, oursecond-tier services, our website andour clinics around the country allprovided support and information totens of thousands of people, including

F R E E L E G A L A D V I C E C E N T R E S

WWhhaatt ddoo yyoouu ccuutt wwhheenn ccuuttsshhaavvee ttoo bbee mmaaddee??

Commissioner Hammarberg Follow-Up Visit

10,967 queries to our centres beingrecorded in 2011.

While family law remained the largestarea of enquiry, making up 30% of allcalls, there was a significant increase inthe number of debt-related questions –an area which has seen an increase of400% in the last three years. FLAC hadwarned of the dangers of widespread

credit and light-touch regulation as farback as 2003. Unfortunately thosepredictions have now been validated.Despite the scale and complexity of thedifficulties, FLAC continued to seek tomake positive proposals for effectiveaction. During 2010, FLAC’s represent-ation on the government’s ExpertGroup on Mortgage Arrears and

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, whospoke at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin on June 1st.

See article on page 6.

Continued on page 4

flac News | Vol. 21, No. 2

F L A C N E W S l A P R I L – J U N E 2 0 1 122

iinn tthhiiss eeddiittiioonn......Time for action in Foy case 2

A Perspective on the Ombudsman for Children 3

What do you cut when cuts must be made 4

Minister Lynch launches “Your Rights Right Now” 5

Hammarberg follow-up visit / JointMobile Group visit FLAC 6

Ireland’s first Report to the UNCommittee Against Torture 7

A national strategy on over-indebtedness 8-9

Waiting for civil legal aid 9

Focus on FLAC: Roisin WebbFLAC National Council 10

Inside the Centre: Crumlin FLAC 11

Public Interest Law Alliance Update 12

South African Conference 13

FLAC Casework Update 14

FLAC Campaigns Update:Direct Provision Campaign andSocial Welfare update 15

FLAC Update 16

FLAC NEWS is published quarterly byFree Legal Advice Centres Ltd.,13 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin 1.

Editors: Roisin Boyd and Aine Walsh

Layout and Printing: Printwell Co-operative, Dublin 1

Contributors: Amina Adanan, NoelineBlackwell, Saoirse Brady, Emer Butler, EoinCoffey, Larry Donnelly, Sinead Egan, MichaelFarrell, Juliette Hopkins, Jo Kenny, GillianKernan, Paul Joyce, Colin Lenihan, LianneMurphy, Aoife O’Brien, Zse Varga, KirstyWatterson, Kim Watts and Manus de Barra.

ISSN 07914148The views of individual contributors do notnecessarily represent the views of FLAC.

It is now one year on since theGovernment dropped itsappeal in the Lydia Foy case,

taken by FLAC, and acceptedthat Ireland is in breach of theEuropean Convention on HumanRights for failing to legallyrecognise transgender persons.And it is nearly four years sincethe High Court first made thatruling. But there is still nochange in the law.

Council of Europe Human RightsCommissioner Thomas Hammarbergon a recent visit to Ireland describedthe Government’s failure to changethe law as “unacceptable”. He said theFoy case was widely discussed acrossEurope, where Ireland was one ofonly a handful of countries that didnot give legal recognition totransgender persons.

It is believed that CommissionerHammarberg will write to the Gov-ernment after his visit and set out anumber of issues that need to beaddressed, including transgenderrights.

The previous Government set up aninterdepartmental Gender Recogni-tion Advisory Group in May 2010 toprepare draft legislation but it has stillnot reported at the time of going topress. This is believed to be holdingup Government action on the issuebut Social Protection Minister JoanBurton has given a strong com-mitment to introduce legislation“within the shortest possible time-frame” when the Committee reports.

The UK has had a Gender Recogni-tion Act since 2004 and legislationhere would bring the Republic intoline with Northern Ireland and GreatBritain. But there is also an oppor-tunity to remedy some flaws that haveemerged in the UK legislation,

particularly the requirement thattransgender persons who were mar-ried in their former gender mustdivorce before getting recognition,even if both parties want to staytogether. Commissioner Hammar-berg has suggested that Ireland hasthe opportunity to bring in legislationthat could act as a model for othercountries.

Hopefully all parties in the Oireachtaswill support this legislation when it isbrought forward and give long over-due recognition and relief to this verymarginalised community.

Commissioner Hammarberg madeanother important point in his com-ments on the Foy case: currently theEuropean Court of Human Rightsfaces a major crisis because of thehuge numbers of cases it has to dealwith every year. It is generally agreedthat the only solution is for nationalcourts to enforce the EuropeanConvention directly in each memberstate. The Irish Government is astrong supporter of that position. Butthat means that when the Irish courtshold that the Government is in breachof the Convention, it has an obligationto act promptly to remedy the prob-lem. So far it has not done so in thiscase. It is high time it did.

Time for action in Foy case

The Ombudsman forChildren’s Office (OCO)recently published a

children’s rights analysis of 10key investigations undertaken bythe Office over the last numberof years. The research – under-taken by Dr Ursula Kilkelly,Senior Lecturer at the Faculty ofLaw at University College Cork –considered whether and to whatextent the actions of the publicbodies examined in each of theinvestigations met Ireland’s chil-dren’s rights obligations, partic-ularly those flowing from the UNConvention on the Rights of theChild and the European Conven-tion on Human Rights.

The investigations covered a widerange of issues, including the provisionof special care and high support ser-vices; school transport for a child withspecial needs; the death of a child incare; tenancy determination by a localauthority; home tuition for a childwith autism; the provision of HSEservices to a young mother and herbaby, both of whom were in care; andsupports provided to a child withspecial needs in foster care.

The impetus for this work came froma desire to align more closely thedifferent functions of the officeunder the Ombudsman for ChildrenAct 2002. The 2002 Act provides thatthe Ombudsman for Children mayundertake an investigation into anyaction by or on behalf of a public bodywhere it appears to the Ombudsmanfor Children that the action has ormay have adversely affected the child,and where the action was or may havebeen the result of maladministration.

The Ombudsman for Children is alsoempowered by the 2002 Act to pro-mote the rights and welfare ofchildren by advising Ministers of the

Government on the developmentand coordination of policy relating tothe rights of children, and also byencouraging public bodies to developpolicies, practices and proceduresdesigned to promote children’s rightsand their welfare. In carrying out thislatter function, the Ombudsman forChildren is guided by Ireland’s obligat-ions under international human rightsinstruments to which the State isparty.

However, the failure on the part ofpublic bodies to act in compliancewith the State’s international child-ren’s rights obligations is not a groundon which the Ombudsman forChildren can find fault with theiractions in the context of its statutoryinvestigation function.

The research highlighted a number ofoverarching themes common to manyof the investigations undertaken bythe OCO and the challenges faced inmainstreaming children’s rights inpublic administration and decision-making. One of those themes was theabsence of any routine considerationof Ireland’s human rights obligations inframing policy or delivering servicesto children. It was also clear that childimpact analyses, broadly conceived,did not feature in decision-making bypublic bodies in the cases that wereinvestigated.

This links with the wider debatearound the need to amend the IrishConstitution to give greater pro-tection to children’s rights. Much ofthe discussion on this issue hasfocused – quite reasonably – on

important decisions of the Courtsthat touch on the issue of howchildren’s best interests are deter-mined and how their rights areconsidered in complex cases whereother rights are engaged and balancedagainst them.

However, the Ombudsman forChildren’s interventions on the ques-tion of amending the Constitutionhave emphasised the importance ofconsidering the impact of such achange on the Oireachtas, Govern-ment Departments, local authorities,the HSE and other public bodies. Inshort, its experience leads it tobelieve that we should look beyondthe Courts to how public admin-istration affects children, and how theConstitution informs public admin-istration and decision-making bypublic bodies.

The Ombudsman for Children’s nu-merous submissions to the Oireach-tas on the Constitution make clearthat there is significant scope forimproving practice in this area. Inparticular, it believes that incorpora-ting the general principles of the UNConvention on the Rights of Childinto the Constitution will oblige publicbodies to ask certain questions on aconsistent basis when drafting legisla-tion, designing policy or deliveringservices to children. Are certaingroups of children being left at adisadvantage? Does this proposedmeasure or action operate in the bestinterests of children? Are thosedecisions being informed by the viewsof children and young people?

If we are to move towards a culture ofrespect for children’s rights, thesequestions must be asked meaningfullyat all levels of public administration, allthe time. Amending the Constitutionalong the lines suggested above wouldbe a move in the right direction.


F L A C N E W S l A P R I L – J U N E 2 0 1 1 33

A Perspective on the Ombudsman for Children

By Manus de Barra(Policy and Human Rights Officer at the

Ombudsman for Children’s Office)



Continued from front page

What do you cut when cuts haveto be made?Personal Debt contributed to recom-mendations from the Group which,when implemented, will go some way toaddressing the problems of over-indebted home owners.

The Annual Report also highlightsFLAC’s concerns about delays in theState-funded legal aid system run bythe Legal Aid Board upon which thoseon low incomes depend when theyneed to be represented before the law(see article on waiting lists on page 9).While there are inherent flaws in thescheme’s structure so that it deniesrepresentation to poor people atEmployment Appeals Tribunals andSocial Welfare Appeals Tribunals, FLAC’sreport concentrated on problemsconnected to underfunding and staffreduction in the Legal Aid Board’s LawCentres at a time when the need fortheir services is increasing. In FLAC,we hope that our service which is

provided by a roster of entirelyvoluntary lawyers will provide a bridgeto help people while they wait.However, we can never be expectedto replace the staff of the 29 full-timelaw centres of the state scheme whodo not lack will or capacity, but simplylack people to give a service that is verybadly needed.

The logical response to FLAC’s com-plaint is that there are not enoughresources.The country cannot afford it.Every government service has had totake a hit. However, where a service is

considered important and front-line,the rule has been that the number ofservice providers can be maintained sothat a level of essential service ismaintained. There is an urgent need forpeople who have legal problems tounderstand and to be able to navigatethe legal and administrative frameworkwhich surrounds them. Failure toprovide a timely legal service meansthat vulnerable people get lost in thesystem.

To answer those who note with reliefthat the denial of a timely legal aidservice means some immediate savingswhich are worth sacrificing some(other) people for, we say that thesaving is illusory. The fear and worrythat people feel causes problems for allof us as a society. We hear from thosewho have strained relationships athome, in the workplace, in neighbour-hoods. We hear of their health andfinancial problems. All these makeIreland a society which functions lesswell, where more people become alien-ated, are subject to abuse and wheretheir voices remain unheard. There-fore, even in times of great economicdifficulty, care must be taken in themanner in which cuts are made.

In particular, where services are beingcut, the government is constrained bythe solemn promises and commit-ments in international law it made toprotect human rights. Because this hashappened to many other countries,international human rights law hasdeveloped mechanisms which can guideour government too. Those rules andmechanisms say that no state shouldmake cuts which make it impossible forpeople to live in dignity. They say thatwhere actions must be taken whichhave the effect of reducing rights anddignity, then the State must make itsdecision to cut in a way which is non-discriminatory, which considers allavailable options and the precarioussituation of disadvantaged and marginal-ised groups and which finally takes theoption which best protects humanrights.

Adoption of those standards, which isIreland’s obligation in internationalhuman rights law, would not make thepain of the recession go away. However,knowing that when cuts were made,the government considered people’sdignity and rights would not just be theperformance of a legal obligation, norjust a credit to the government; itwould also be a solace to a people whoare voiceless, and in dread of beingforgotten and abandoned.

Debt enquiries to FLAC from 2006 to 2010

“Failure toprovide a timely

legal servicemeans thatvulnerable

people get lost inthe system.”

“An increase of400% in debt-

related enquiries inthe last four years.”

The cover of FLAC’s Annual Report 2010.Copies available from FLAC. (01) 887 3600


55F L A C N E W S l A P R I L – J U N E 2 0 1 1

Minister of State Kath-leen Lynch launched“Your Rights. Right

Now”, Ireland’s Civil SocietyUniversal Periodic Review(UPR) Stakeholder Report on19 April 2011. The Civil SocietyStakeholder Report was prod-uced by a coalition of 17 leadingnon-governmental organisationsincluding FLAC and was co-ordinated by the Irish Councilfor Civil Liberties (ICCL).

Over 100 organisations and 90 in-dividuals have endorsed the report,which has been submitted to theUnited Nations as part of itsUniversal Periodic Review processunder which Ireland will have itshuman rights’ record examined inOctober 2011 by peers at the UNHuman Rights Council.

Speaking at the launch of the CivilSociety report, Minister of State forDisability, Equality, Mental Health andOlder People, Kathleen Lynch TDstated “the UPR mechanism will helpus to examine the issues identified bymembers of the public and civilsociety, and consider how we as acountry approach the entire area ofhuman rights”.

She noted that the “Your Rights. RightNow” campaign has been very suc-cessful in raising awareness of humanrights and motivating people to en-gage in the UPR process.

Mark Kelly, Director of ICCL, speakingat the launch noted Ireland’s greatefforts at protecting human rightsabroad but that the “State has yet tomatch its international record athome”. He hoped that “the new gov-ernment will look seriously at theprotection gaps identified in this

report and introduce more effectivenational mechanisms to guaranteethat its international human rightsobligations will be respected”.

The Government invited members ofthe public and organisations to takepart in public consultation meetingsto discuss Ireland’s human rightsrecord as part of the UPR process,which were held in several locationsaround the country from the 16th tothe 30th May. An inter-departmentalworking group chaired by the Depart-ment of Justice and Equality willprepare Ireland’s national report,which is due to be submitted to the

UN Human Rights Council by the 4July.

FLAC attended some of these publicconsultations and was pleased tonote that some of its main concernsin its submission to the UN wereechoed by members of the public,including; transgender issues, dis-crepancies in the asylum process,standards of living in direct provision,the right to housing and the need forinternational human rights treatieswhich the State has ratified to be in-corporated into Irish law.

Minister Lynch launches “Your Rights. Right Now”

Minister of State Kathleen

Lynch (above) and with ICCL

Director Mark Kelly (left) at

the launch of the “Your

Rights Right Now” Report

on April 19th

The “Your Rights. Right

Now” submission on the

UPR can be accessed at:

http://www.rightsnow.ie

FLAC’s submission to

this report is available at

http://www.flac.ie/downl

oad/pdf/flacs_submission

_to_the_upr.pdf

“the State has

yet to match its

international

record at home”



Hammarberg follow-up visit

On 1 June 2011, in theNational Gallery ofIreland in Dublin,

Thomas Hammarberg, theCouncil of Europe Com-missioner for Human Rights,held a conversation withmembers of civil society andNGOs, hosted by the IrishHuman Rights Commission.

The Commissioner discussed theimpact of the economic crisis andcalled on the Government totake into account the long termeffects of their budgetarypolicies, as hasty decisions willhave consequences in futureyears and may lead to furthersocial problems. A NationalAction Plan for Human Rights iseven more important in reces-sionary times and this shouldinspire and inform other policies.Commissioner Hammarberg call-ed for a strategic and systematicapproach to legislation andplanning by the Executive sothat their intentions will bemade real at a national and local

level. He spoke about thepositive signs in the area ofhuman rights due to the role ofcivil society and the media asmonitoring mechanisms whichcan act as a “balance to thefailure of political systems andpoliticians to follow through” onpromises and ensure the realimplementation of human rightsstandards.

One of the key messages fromthe presentation was the sug-gestion that Europe lacks moralleadership putting Europeanvalues, such as tolerance anddiversity, under threat. However,as it was pointed out on the

night, through his tirelesscampaigning for the implement-ation of human rights andraising difficult issues the Com-missioner himself has providedEurope with a great example ofwhat it is to be a moral andethical leader.

FLAC looks forward to theCommissioner’s comments on hisvisit which will be informed byhis meetings with governmentrepresentatives as well as withthe Irish Human Rights Com-mission and human rights andequality organisations. FLACmade a submission to theCommissioner in advance of hisvisit which is available at:

On 12 May 2011,FLAC was visitedby Dmitry Kaza-

kov and Anton Ryjov, twomembers of the JointMobile Group. The JointMobile Group is composedof a network of humanrights NGOs based inRussia who investigatealleged human rights ab-uses committed across theRussian Federation. Thegroup recently won the2011 Front Line Award forHuman Rights Defendersat Risk for their work in

Chechnya, which waspresented to them byformer President MaryRobinson at a ceremony inCity Hall, Dublin.

On presenting the award MrsRobinson commended thework of the Joint MobileGroup calling it “an inspira-tional example of how com-mitted individuals, despite allthe pressures that arebrought to bear on them, canhold the line in defence ofjustice, truth and the rule oflaw”.The Joint Mobile Group

was established in 2000 withthe aim of using legalmethods to vindicate humanrights abuses in the RussianFederation. The group hasbeen active in Chechnya sinceNovember 2009. They in-vestigate alleged crimes suchas torture and disappear-ances of persons and thenuse this evidence to persuadestate investigators to initiateofficial investigations into thealleged crimes.

Joint Mobile work in verydangerous circumstances,

Joint Mobile Group visit FLAC

Michael Farrell, Senior Solicitor for

FLAC, Jo Kenny, Legal Officer PILA,

and Dmitry Kazakov (above).

Anton Ryjov of the Joint Mobile

Group, and Saoirse Brady, Policy and

Campaigns Officer FLAC (above).

http://www.flac.ie/download/

pdf/may_2011_flac_submiss

ion_for_coe_commissioner_

for_human_rights_hammarb

erg.pdf

To download FLAC’s submission to a mobile

device or phone, scan the QR code on the left. A

free app such as “ScanLife” may be needed. Let

us know what you think of this feature by emailing

us at: [email protected]



Ireland’s first Report to the UNCommittee Against Torture

Ireland’s first periodic reviewunder the United NationsConvention Against Torture

took place at the Office of theUN High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights in May 2011.

The UN Committee Against Torture(UNCAT) scrutinised Ireland’s obliga-tions under the convention,where theGovernment delegation was headedby Mr. Sean Aylward, Secretary Gen-eral of the Department of Justice andEquality. The Committee questionedthe Government on a variety ofissues, particularly in relation to placesof detention within the State, theasylum process and Ireland’s lack ofincorporation of international humanrights treaties into domestic law.

During the hearing, Committeemember Luis Gallegos of Ecuadorpraised the input of the NGOcommunity in Ireland into theUNCAT process. The Irish Councilfor Civil Liberties (ICCL) and the IrishPenal Reform Trust (IPRT) submitteda joint shadow report to the Com-mittee which was endorsed by a

number of organisations includingFLAC. A number of Irish NGOsattended the hearing in Geneva. MrGallegos showed concern over thereduction in the granting of refugeestatus and observed that as the Irisheconomy declines the State seems tobe becoming more hard-line towardsmigrants. The high rejection rate ofNigerian asylum seekers was alsonoted by Mr Gallegos. Committeemember Fernando Mariño Menendezof Spain called for decisions of theRefugee Appeals Tribunal to be madeavailable to the public rather than onlyto lawyers working in the area, as isthe situation at present. The heavybacklog of complaints before theGarda Síochána Ombudsman Com-mission was noted by Committee

member Alessio Bruni of Italy.

Following this hearing, the Committeepublished its Concluding Observa-tions on 6 June 2011. In relation torefugees and international protection,the Committee reiterated the recom-mendation made by the UN Com-mittee for the Elimination of RacialDiscrimination that the draft Immi-gration, Residence and Protection Billbe amended to comply with therequirements of the Convention. TheUN Committee Against Torture alsorecommended that the Governmentensure that due process is afforded toasylum seekers in the granting ofrefugee status and that an investi-gation be carried out to assess thedecrease in the granting of refugeestatus in Ireland.

The State was encouraged to publi-cise its report to the Committee aswell as the Committee’s recom-mendations and to submit follow-upinformation to the Committee re-garding certain recommendationswithin a year.

The webcast of the UNCAThearing can be viewed

athttp://www.ustream.tv/channel/iprt

The Joint ICCL and IPRTshadow report can be viewedathttp://www.iprt.ie/files/ICC

L-IPRT-report-web.pdfThe concluding

recommendations made bythe UNCAT Committee can

be accessed athttp://www.pila.ie/bulletin/lat

estbulletin/2011/06/15/un-committee-against-torture-

calls-for-independent-investigation-into-magdalene-

laundries/

particularly as in Chechnya at present lawenforcement poses many problems forNGOs. Nevertheless there are NGOsactive in protecting human rights, includingin the areas of prisoner rights, children’srights and the rights of journalists.

The members of the Group who visitedFLAC are lawyers for the CommitteeAgainst Torture in Russia and are alsoinvolved in strategic litigation. They havetaken approximately 70 public interestcases before the European Court ofHuman Rights and they have beensuccessful on five occasions to date.

Anton Ryjov of the Joint Mobile

Group, and Saoirse Brady, Policy and

Campaigns Officer FLAC (above).

88 F L A C N E W S l A P R I L – J U N E 2 0 1 1


As this issue of FLACNews goes to print, thenew administration has

been in government for approxi-mately four months. From theperspective of the increasingnumber of people finding them-selves mired in mortgage andother personal debt, what haschanged with the change ofgovernment? Very little so far,unfortunately.

Indeed, the new programme for gov-ernment, insofar as it concerns theconsumer debt crisis, is long on gen-eralisation and short on specifics. Tosummarise, it suggests that the gov-ernment will examine introducing atwo year moratorium on reposses-sions of ‘modest’ family homes, fasttracking personal bankruptcy reform,converting the Money Advice andBudgeting Service (MABS) into aPersonal Debt Management Agencywith strong legal powers and makinggreater use of Mortgage InterestSupplement to support families whocannot meet their mortgage pay-ments.

Taking each of these in turn, no greatsense of the urgency or complexity ofthe problem is apparent.While a twoyear moratorium will undoubtedlyhelp some people who are now incrisis to ride out that crisis, thisproposal fails to deal with the un-fortunate reality that a number ofmortgages are ultimately unsustain-able and a way must be found to bringthem to a clean end and provideaccess to social housing or rentaloptions.

There is movement on personalbankruptcy law to honour a commit-ment given to the IMF as part of thebail out to introduce such legislationby the end of the first quarter of 2012.

While the Minister for Justice Equalityand Defence has improved on thattimeline with the publication of a Billproposing to fix a maximum length oftwelve years on bankruptcy and re-duce the average period from 12 to 5years, this is in reality just a minoradjustment to our antiquated bank-ruptcy laws, which will have no signifi-cance for the majority of over-indebt-ed consumers. Converting MABS intoa Personal Debt Management Agencymay look attractive on the surface butit is not an option without complica-tions, particularly as it is inconceivablethat a debt management agency couldact as an independent money advisorat the same time.

Finally, it is notable that the SocialWelfare and Pension Bill 2011 whichwas introduced and debated in June2011 contains no amendments tothe Mortgage Interest Supplementscheme, despite recommendations forchange both in the Department’s ownreview and arising out of the Interimand final reports of the MortgageArrears and Personal Debt Group.

An honourable exception perhaps tothe current vacuum is the rapidpublication by the Department ofEnvironment of a new Housing PolicyStatement. Despite emphasising futurelack of resources, it is refreshing for itscandid and honest evaluation of thefailed policy of the ‘boom’ years, inparticular the obsession with houseownership.The commitments given toimprove security of tenure and thequality of rental accommodation andto better regulate landlords, toincrease the provision of socialhousing and to secure a social divi-dend in terms of housing stock fromNAMA, to place approved housingbodies at the heart of future housingprovision and finally to introduce asingle Mortgage Arrears Resolution

Process for use by local authorities inrelation to housing loan arrears arewelcome.

It is abundantly clear, however, thatthe need to respond to the debtcrisis affects a number of govern-ment departments. This is evidentfrom the membership of the ExpertGroup on Mortgage Arrears whichexamined potential solutions in 2010,with the Departments of Justice,Environment and Social Protection aswell as the Department of Finance andthe Financial Regulator havingparticipated. FLAC, which itself part-icipated in the group to identify solu-tions in the interests of consumers,believes that a national strategy isurgently required that would involvethe simultaneous implementation of anumber of overdue reforms. Theseshould include:

w The immediate implementationof the remaining recommenda-tions of the Expert Group on

AA nnaattiioonnaall ssttrraatteeggyy oonnoovveerr--iinnddeebbtteeddnneessss



Mortgage Arrears includingthose relating to MortgageInterest Supplement

w Fast tracking the recommenda-tions of the Law Reform Com-mission in relation to personalinsolvency legislation, bank-ruptcy and debt enforcementreform

w Setting up an independent Re-scheduling Service that wouldadjudicate on the sustainabilityof mortgages where lender andborrower do not agree

w Providing a suite of options forborrowers in arrears whosemortgages may be sustainable,including an improved mort-gage arrears resolution pro-

cess, a compulsory deferredinterest scheme and anexamination of targeted debtforgiveness options

w Providing a range of rights forborrowers whose mortgagesmay be unsustainable, includinga right of sale, a right of resi-dence until sale, debt settle-ment of any residual debt aftersale, an immediate assessmentof social housing need andaccess to rent supplementpending the provision of socialhousing

w A focus on delivering moresocial housing units, if neces-sary utilising the assetsavailable through the mediumof NAMA and the introduction

of suitable rental schemes

w Provision of greater resourcesto advise and assist those withunmanageable debt.

The conclusion to the introductionto the programme for governmentstates that ‘our country deserves afresh start from the failed politics ofthe years past. It also deserves a newhope that a new Government guidedby the needs of the many rather thanthe greed of the few can make a real,positive difference in their lives’. Italso declares that ‘there isn’t amoment to be lost’.

Many indebted people far from thecorridors of power struggling tohold their lives together wouldagree. So what is causing the delay?

WWaaiittiinngg ffoorr CCiivviill LLeeggaall AAiidd

Waiting times for civillegal aid have seen asubstantial increase in

recent years. Between January andMarch 2011 alone the demand forlegal aid rose by approximately 28%.As of May 2011, 3,399 people wereapproved for legal aid but were still onthe waiting list for a first consultationwith a solicitor.

This issue of waiting times and itsimpediment to the constitutional rightto legal aid was addressed in the 2004case of O'Donoghue -v- The Legal AidBoard & Ors. The Court stated that areasonable waiting period for aperson to access a solicitor would bebetween two and four months.Following the judgment, the Legal AidBoard made a commitment to ensurethat this four month target was met,including the introduction of a PrivatePractitioners’ Scheme.Those measur-es were successful in reducing waitingtimes across the country. However, itis now clear that the demand for legalaid has increased substantially in thelast number of years, primarilybecause more people are qualifyingfor legal aid due to loss of

employment and overall reduction inwages.

Additionally, because of the embargoimposed on public service recruit-ment, staff members of the Legal AidBoard who leave, either permanentlyor temporarily, are not being replaced.This has posed considerable problems

regarding access to legal aid,particularly when considering thatfrom 2007-2010 there has been anestimated increase of 69% in demandfor the service. At the same time,severe restrictions have been imposedon the private practitioners’ schemeas its budget too has been cut. FLACis of the opinion that legal aid shouldbe considered a front line servicewhich would mean that staff could bereplaced, easing pressure on the lawcentres, as much of the current delaycan be put down to this lack of per-sonnel.

Article 6 of the European Conventionon Human Rights and FundamentalFreedoms states that access to justiceis a human right.The realisation of thatright has come before the EuropeanCourt on Human Rights, specifically inrelation to Ireland in the 1979 case ofAirey v Ireland where the Court stated‘the Convention is intended to guaranteenot rights that are theoretical or illusorybut rights that are practical andeffective’. At present, waiting times forTallaght or Tipperary (10 and 11months respectively) could be arguedto be both theoretical and illusory.

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Roisin joined FLAC as anintern in 2000 under a FÁSplacement scheme and

has stayed involved in differentways over the years, mostrecently becoming a FLAC Na-tional Council member in 2007.

As a former employee of FLAC, Roisinis passionate about the importance ofthe work that FLAC does and there-fore enjoys being able to keep up-to-date with this in her role on FLACCouncil. Roisin’s work with theCouncil mainly involves attending themonthly Council meetings, where theimplementation and direction ofFLAC’s strategic plan is discussed andoverseen. Roisin very much enjoyedthe process of devising FLAC’s lateststrategic plan as it provided theopportunity for FLAC Council andstaff to work together to talk throughwhat should be given priority.

Prior to working with FLAC as anintern, Roisin completed a B.A. in Lawand European Studies in the Univers-ity of Limerick. During this under-graduate degree she completed awork placement with a public interestlawyer in Los Angeles, Bob Myers,primarily working on two deathpenalty post-conviction appeal cases,but also on a number of class actionsin relation to disability law and specialeducational needs. This experienceilluminated the whole area of publicinterest law for Roisin, an area whichwas little emphasised at the time inIrish universities. Therefore when shecame across the work of FLAC in herfinal year when applying for the FLACfellowship, Roisin knew that she wouldlike to become involved with the workof FLAC.

After completing her FLAC internshipRoisin went on to work for FLACfulltime for two years in its work onlegal aid. This involved advocating onbehalf of individuals who had beenrefused legal aid and working on

FLAC’s Legal Aid Report. This is anarea which Roisin is still passionateabout, particularly in relation to thelimitations of the current legal aidsystem in meeting the legal needs ofvulnerable individuals and groups.

Looking back on her involvement withFLAC so far, Roisin has a number offond memories. One of the earlyhighlights was going through FLAC’sold archived material while workingon the Civil Legal Aid Report.As wellas finding some amazing photos fromthe 70s and 80s, many of which nowadorn the walls of FLAC offices, Roisinalso had the opportunity to interviewmany lawyers who were involved inthe early days of FLAC, including JudgeCatherine McGuiness, Judge SusanDenham and the recently retiredJudge Vivian Lavan. “It was brilliant to gettheir insights and hear some of theirstories in relation to the early days ofFLAC – it gave me such a sense of thehistory of FLAC. It was such an inspiringtime – FLAC volunteers were so proactivein campaigning for legal aid and forproviding a service when none existed –in some cases, law students were evenpermitted by the court to represent FLACclients due to the complete lack of stateservices.”

Another highlight was working withthe late Dave Ellis on the Legal AidReport who was a mentor to Roisin

and remains an inspiration to her inher work.

Since her time working with FLACRoisin has completed a European MAin Human Rights and Democratizationin Venice. She subsequently qualifiedand worked as a Barrister in Ireland inareas such as criminal law, immigrationand asylum law, disability and equalitylaws and child protection law. Roisinalso worked as legal policy officer withthe Children’s Rights Alliance from2007-2008 and was commissioned towrite a report for the Irish Councilfor Civil Liberties (ICCL) entitled“Protecting Children and Respectingthe Rule of Law” which was publishedin July 2009.

Roisin is excited about her futureinvolvement with FLAC Council, inparticular helping to oversee thedevelopment of the Public InterestLaw Alliance (PILA), a project of FLAC.Roisin has seen this develop from theearliest stages and is excited about thenew opportunities for law studentsand lawyers to engage in publicinterest law which she hopes will leadto the law being used increasingly as atool to affect social change forvulnerable individuals and groups inIreland.

Over the coming few years, one ofRoisin’s main hopes for FLAC is tohelp monitor and improve the legal aidsystem in Ireland, the services ofwhich are hugely stretched. This is“very serious for the public and thosewho need access to the services, but alsoto solicitors that work within the Legal AidBoard who are put under tremendouspressure. Their existing budget simplycannot stretch to the service that it needsto provide.” FLAC therefore has animportant role in helping the generalpublic understand that those legalservices are vital in order to ensuregenuine access to proper legal adviceand legal services for people whocan’t afford it.

FOCUS ON FLAC

RRooiissiinn WWeebbbb,, FFLLAACC CCoouunncciill



Catherine McLoone, a bar-rister, has been volun-teering with FLAC in

Crumlin for the last five years.Catherine provides legal advice todrop-in callers on a diverse rangeof areas, from family law anddomestic disputes to employmentlaw and debt queries. She notesthat the best part of volunteeringis seeing the relief in people whenthey know how to deal with theirlegal query, what to do and whereto go.

Crumlin Citizens Information Centre(CIC), where the FLAC centre ishoused, is one of the oldest of the CICs.It grew out of Crumlin Social ServiceCentre, where FLAC has operated outof since the early 1970s. The CIC ismanaged by Anne McCloskey, whoassists FLAC with the operation of itsservice. The FLAC centre is run byvolunteers including volunteer recep-tionists, assistants and advisors and isknown locally ‘as the place to go, if youwant to know’.

Helping to keep this reputation alive isLouisa Richardson, an in-house solicitor,who has been volunteering with FLACfor the past eight years. Louisa findsvolunteering in the Crumlin centre apositive experience, both due to theopportunity of meeting with individualclients in a personal capacity, somethingwhich is not part of her working dayand also the gratitude expressed by

callers. This sentiment is echoed byBrenda McGarrity, a law student, whohas been an assistant volunteer withFLAC for the past 12 months. She notesthat the community in Crumlin is a wellestablished one and FLAC has beenvery well received there.

However, the volunteers in the Crumlinfree legal advice centre do note somecommon challenges, such as the longwaiting times faced by those clientsthat they refer onto the Legal AidBoard. “I imagine this to be their greatestchallenge. Time.” commented CatherineMcloone. Another challenge noted bythe team is staying abreast of thechanges in the areas of the law that theywould not be involved in on a day to daybasis as part of their job but which are

relevant for the clients of FLAC.

The Crumlin free legal advice centretakes place every Wednesday eveningfrom 7.00 to 9.00pm in the CrumlinCIC, located at 146 Sundrive Road,Crumlin, Dublin 12. This centre isoperated on a drop-in basis.The Crum-lin volunteers saw a total number of 367callers in 2010. Of these, 196 werereferred on to another agency or bodyfor further assistance, including toprivate solicitors, the Legal Aid Board,the Money Advice and BudgetingServices, Family Mediation Services andother statutory or voluntary organisa-tions. This year there has already beenover 165 callers to the centre seekinglegal advice.

INSIDE THE FLAC CENTRE

CCRRUUMMLLIINN FFRREEEE LLEEGGAALL AADDVVIICCEE CCEENNTTRREE

Pictured: Brenda McGarrity, Louisa Richardson and Catherine Mcloone.

As part of our support to our volun-teers’ work in FLAC centres, we regularlyorganise training courses and events.

During our training events we aim tocover two main areas of law that mightcome up frequently in the FLAC centres.We also invite another agency ororganisation to briefly introduce itswork so that our volunteers can referclients to it in confidence. We havealready run two training events in Dublinand one in Cork this year, with more

training courses scheduled for the rest ofthe year.

For further information please contactZse VargaVolunteer and Centres Managerat [email protected]

Volunteer Assistants:In the last year we have taken on moreand more assistant volunteers in ourcentres whose role is to support theadvisors in our FLAC Centres.

Assistants are usually law graduates, butnot fully qualified. They can be of greathelp to the FLAC advisors, whether thatbe filling out the data collection forms,undertaking on-the-spot internet re-search if needed, or finding relevantleaflets in our resource folders. Accord-ing to our policy, assistants are notallowed to give legal advice without theclose supervision of an advisor. We arehoping that these enthusiastic new volun-teers make our advisors’ lives easier bytheir work and that once they qualify,they will be ready to start up as advisorsin our centres too.

TRAINING

SUPPORTING FLACVOLUNTEERS



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On 13 April 2011, PILA co-hosted thewell-attended and popular Business,Law & Human Rights seminar inconjunction with the Law Society. Theseminar focused on corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) and the practicalimplementation of CSR and pro bonowork by law firms. It featured Michael

Smyth CBE as keynote speaker. He is aformer partner in the London legalpractice of Clifford Chance and ledtheir public policy and governmentaffairs practice for over twenty yearsand also had overall responsibility forthe firm’s pro bono activities.

Michael Smyth made it clear thatcommercial law firms no longer have achoice about whether they undertakepro bono matters, as clients are in-creasingly demanding that law firmsdemonstrate CSR and pro bono records

when pitching for work.

Esther Lynch of the Irish Congress ofTrade Unions and Tomás Sercovich ofBusiness in the Community Ireland alsospoke on the theme of CSR. EstherLynch noted that a company’s treatmentof human rights law in all aspects of itsbusiness decides whether it can becalled “ethical”. Tomás Sercovich discus-sed the essential nature of CSR for Irishbusiness and the way in which lawyers’pro bono work can benefit their com-munity.

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SSeemmiinnaarr oonn tthhee EECCHHRROn 13 May 2011, PILA hosted a sem-inar reviewing the Irish and Britishexperiences of using the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights (ECHR).This featured UCD’s Dr Fiona DeLondras and Brian Kennelly, a barristerwith the prestigious Blackstone Cham-bers in London.

Fiona de Londras’s presentat ionhighlighted the “enormous trans-formative potential” of the ECHR Act2003, concluding her talk by saying

that as the ECHR has been adopted intoIrish law, this jurisdiction shouldembrace it and make sure rights areproperly protected.

Brian Kennelly’s review of the Britishposition included comment on twoECHR cases on social welfare andhousing (the Tomlinson and Pinnockcases), and his personal experience withinfamous super-injunction matters(under the umbrella of privacy rights). Hestated that the ECHR had “recalibratedthe relationship between the individualand the state”, emphasising that itsrights had set standards to be observedand a measure against which to healthcheck legislation.

Videos from both seminars are availableon PILA’s YouTube channel:youtube.com/PILAireland.

PPIILLAA hhoossttss sseemmiinnaarrffoorr NNGGOOss aanndd LLaawwyyeerrssPILA hosted a seminar on public interest

law for NGOs on 1st April 2011 at theGresham Hotel. Colin Daly of NorthsideCommunity Law Centre gave an insight-ful presentation on public interest law inIreland from the perspective of aCommunity Law Centre.

The seminar was followed by a lively“Meet & Greet” drinks event for NGOsand lawyers on the PILA pro bonoregister. You can see pictures of theevent on PILA’s Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/PILAie.

Pictured are Brian Kennelly BL, from Black-stone Chambers London, Larry Donnelly, PILAManager and Dr Fiona De Londras, UCD.

Pictured left: Larry Donnelly, PILA Managerand Colin Daly, solicitor with the NorthsideCommunity Law Centre.

PPIILLAA WWoorrkksshhooppss ffoorr NNGGOOssThrough the pro bono referral system, PILA organised legal workshops forNGO staff on 5 April (Drafting Skills) and 19 April (Advocacy Skills) 2011.These events focused on training NGO staff in the kind of practical legalskills that can benefit their work. Gary Fitzgerald, Noreen Maguire, MichaelDillon and Elizabeth Mitrow presented at the Drafting Skills workshop, andGeraldine Hynes and Brian Foley presented at the Advocacy Skills workshop.The workshops featured themed group sessions, where lawyers supervisedand gave feedback on drafting exercises for participants.



South African Conference was ‘a humbling experience’

It is not often someone woulddescribe a meeting with law-yers as a humbling experi-

ence. But that was what itproved to be when a group oflawyers from FLAC and otherNGOs in both parts of Irelandvisited South Africa in May for aconference on public interest liti-gation organised by the AtlanticPhilanthropies.

The conference brought togetherlawyers from NGOs funded byAtlantic in Ireland, South Africa andthe United States to share experien-ces and compare notes about usinglitigation to end injustices and im-prove the conditions of disadvantagedpeople in their different jurisdictions.And what better place to hold themeeting than South Africa where thework of lawyers played a significantpart in bringing down the racist apart-heid regime and where lawyers (someof them the same people) are nowusing the uniquely inclusive anddemocratic new Constitution to tryto improve the lives of its most disad-vantaged citizens.

The week’s events started, appro-priately,with a visit to the old women’sprison in Johannesburg, which onceheld well-known activists like WinnieMandela and the recently deceasedAlbertina Sisulu. Today part of theprison is preserved as a reminder ofthe suffering and the struggle againstapartheid but in its courtyard twomodern buildings house the EqualityCourt, now headed by a formerinmate of the prison, and the offices ofProBono.Org, one of the NGOs sup-ported by Atlantic. It also gets fundingfrom the major South African lawfirms and organises law clinics andstrategic casework, helped by amandatory pro bono work require-ment imposed on all lawyers by theSouth African legal professionalbodies.

The visits to the NGOs working onthese issues set the scene for a two-day conference of leading SouthAfrican human rights lawyers dealingwith “Strategies and tactics for the next

generation ofpublic interestlitigation inSouth Africa”. Itbegan with apowerful pres-entation of areport on stra-tegic litigationby two of thecountry’s bestknown advo-cates, MarcusGilbert SC andSteven Bud-lender. Drawingon ground-breaking caseson social ande c o n o m i crights beforethe South Afri-can Constitutional Court, theirreport is a virtual handbook of howand when to take public interest cases.

It was followed by presentations by aseries of lawyers taking cases on issueslike access to sanitation and elec-tricity in the townships and informalsettlements, and the replacement ofmud-built schools in the WesternCape Province. The scale of theproblems was illustrated by a casewhere the authorities provided a newbrick-built toilet block for a mudschool and it was so much better thanthe school building that the teachersmoved the classes into the toiletblock.

Perhaps the most important sessionof the trip was a one-day roundtableof Atlantic grantees from Ireland(North and South), South Africa andthe United States.That was the reallyhumbling part, where we learnedhow much tougher things were in theother jurisdictions. The South Afri-cans talked about corruption, incom-petence, prejudice against gays andlesbians, xenophobia against immi-grants and refugees, and povertyeverywhere.

The US lawyers all worked on deathpenalty cases and told shockingstories of the vengeful death penalty

culture in the southern states wheresome judges boasted about how manypeople they had sent to the electricchair. They also spoke of the inher-ent racism in the US justice systemwhereby African Americans make up12% of the population but nearly 60%of its prison inmates.

But despite the huge disparities be-tween the different countries, andthe much graver problems faced bythe South Africans and Americans,similar issues kept emerging. Andperhaps the key point was that tobring about social change, litigationhad to be closely aligned with policywork, lobbying and campaigning andthat getting a positive judgment fromthe courts was often only a stop onthe road. The harder task was toget the judgment implemented.

The trip ended with a visit to thedeeply moving Museum of Apartheid,recounting the brutality of the racistregime and the years of suffering, painand tears during the struggle to end it.It is a different struggle in SouthAfrica now – against poverty, diseaseand corruption and towards buildinga truly inclusive and integratedsociety, but the suffering and sacrificesendured during the struggle to endapartheid show that it can be done.

South Africa’s Constitutional Court (above) was completed in 2004, inthe grounds of the old Johannesburg Fort Prison (inset).

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FLAC has taken an appealagainst a decision of theFinancial Services Om-

budsman in relation to theinterpretation of Section 63 ofthe Consumer Credit Act 1995.The case involved a complaintmade by a consumer who wishedto terminate a hire-purchaseagreement using Section 63,more commonly known as the‘half rule’.

The section allows a hirer toterminate the hire-purchaseagreement, return the vehicle and onlybe liable for half the hire-purchaseprice. In this case the hirer had yet toreach the half way point and thefinance company refused to accept thetermination until the hirer made apayment to bring her account up tohalf the hire-purchase price.

The hirer complained to the FinancialService Ombudsman and sought adeclaration from the Ombudsmanstating that the company implementthe termination under Section 63.TheOmbudsman found against the hirerand stated that all payments requiredunder Section 63 must be madebefore termination can take place.

The hirer, with FLAC’s assistance,

appealed this decision to the HighCourt, which is the only appealavailable from decisions of theFinancial Services Ombudsman. FLACargued in the High Court beforeHanna J that the wording of Section63 did not require payment beforetermination can occur but in factallows the hirer to terminate theagreement and ‘then’ be liable to payany outstanding amounts in the formof a statutory debt.

Counsel for the Ombudsman statedthat there are two views on theinterpretation of the Section andargued that the decision of theOmbudsman had been a reasonableone. The Ombudsman interpretedthe Section to require the hirer tomake immediate payment of anyoutstanding amounts. Counsel for

the Ombudsman, submitted that theCourt should apply curial deferenceto the decision and allow it to stand.

Counsel for the Financial Institutionargued that in order to terminate ahire-purchase agreement using Sec-tion 63 there is a requirement that allpayments required be made beforetermination can take place.

A decision in the case is awaited asjudgment was reserved.

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FFLLAACC CChhaalllleennggeess DDeecciissiioonn ooff FFiinnaanncciiaall SSeerrvviicceess OOmmbbuuddssmmaann

Woman wins Appeal against SocialWelfare Overpayment claimA decision by the social welfareauthorities to stop payment of aOne Parent Family Payment to awoman with a large family and todemand that she pay back an allegedover-payment of €21,000 wasoverturned by an Appeals Officerrecently. FLAC represented thewoman in a case where theDepartment of Social Protection

claimed that her marriage tie to herseparated partner was not broken.

The criteria for making such a claimare very vague and unsatisfactorybut the Social Welfare AppealsOfficer found that the Departmenthad not proved its case and allowedthe woman’s appeal.

Sepulveda expresses“deep concern” overState’s asylum policy

The UnitedNationsIndependentExpert onExtremePovertyMagdalenaSepulveda inher recentreport of her mission to Irelandstressed that the State has anobligation to ensure that thoseseeking its protection areguaranteed the enjoyment of allhuman rights including the right toprivate and family life and the rightto an adequate standard of livingincluding access to the labourmarket. She also called on theGovernment to adopt a singleprocedure for determining refugeeand subsidiary claims.The UnitedNations Committee against Tor-ture has also expressed deep con-cern about the States asylumpolicy and the recognition ratesfor refugees in their examinationof Ireland under the UN Con-vention against Torture in May2011.



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In June 2011, FLAC sent asubmission to all members of theOireachtas, voicing concerns

about certain provisions contained inthe Social Welfare & Pensions Bill2011. FLAC was concerned with ss12and 18 of the Bill and the absence ofany reference to Mortgage InterestSupplement.

FLAC also used the opportunity toraise concerns about the HabitualResidence Condition. Section 12 ofthe Bill confers on the Minister thepower to prescribe different typesand forms of information fromdifferent classes of claimants. Thereference to “different classes of claim-ants or beneficiaries” is not sufficientlyclear to ensure that this will notinvolve discriminatory profiling ofdifferent categories of claimants;therefore FLAC suggested that suchprovision be deleted. Section 18provides that persons who are erron-eously in receipt of a payment on the

basis of false or misleading inform-ation, cannot offset that overpaymentagainst a payment to which they weregenuinely entitled. FLAC has called fors18 to be deleted as it has thepotential to impose a punishment tan-tamount to a fine without regard fordue process rights.

FLAC noted the absence of anyreference to the Mortgage InterestSupplement in the Bill, including anyreference to recommendations madeby the Expert Group on MortgageArrears & Personal Debt and urgedthat they would be implemented as amatter of urgency. FLAC has alsocalled for a review of the HabitualResidence Condition given its nega-tive impact on vulnerable groups andrecommended removing the refer-ence to the ’two year rule’ fromprimary legislation as it no longerapplies.

Catherine Murphy Independent TDfor Kildare North, noting FLAC’s

submission on the Mortgage InterestSupplement issue, stated that it was “amajor omission from the Bill, because thesituation is urgent if we are to have somemanagement of personal and mortgagedebt”. Minister for Social ProtectionJoan Burton TD responded that “anychanges to the mortgage interest supple-ment scheme must be considered in abudgetary context... and very detailedwork is being done on the detail of therecommendations of the mortgage ar-rears and personal debt expert group”.

Opposition Spokespersons on SocialProtection Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD(Sinn Féin) and Barry Cowen TD(Fianna Fáil) also raised FLAC’sconcerns surrounding s18 of the Bill.The Social Welfare & Pensions Billwas quickly guillotined in the Seanadwithout comprehensive debate asonly six of the 43 sections werediscussed.

In a previous edition of FLACNews we noted that the NGOforum on direct provision, of

which FLAC is a member, sent aletter to Labour and Fine Gaelasking each party for a commit-ment to introduce an alternativeto the direct provision system andestablish an independent com-plaints mechanism.

To date the forum has not received aresponse. Two Parliamentary Quest-ions have been put to Alan ShatterTD, the Minister for Justice, Equalityand Defence, on the system of directprovision. Caoimhghín ÓCaoláin TD(Sinn Fein) (11th May 2011) asked theMinister for Justice Equality andDefence if any plans were in place tointroduce an independent complaintsmechanism in direct provision. SeanKyne TD (Fine Gael) (19th May2011) asked the Minister his plans toreform the direct provision system inview of the unacceptable delays and

inadequate living conditions experi-enced by persons seeking asylum inIreland.

On the issue of the independent com-plaints mechanism, Minister Shattersuggested that “the system of directprovision exists within its own circum-stances and the RIA is satisfied that thestructure of the complaints procedurecontained within the revised House Rulesis fair and is broadly in line with theguidelines set out by the Office of theOmbudsman for internal complaintssystems”

As outlined in One Size Doesn’t Fit All,FLAC’s report on the direct provisionsystem, the current complaintsprocedure does not comply with theprinciples set out in The Ombuds-man’s Guide to Internal ComplaintsProcedures as it lacks fairness,independence and impartiality.

On the issue of reforming the directprovision system, the Minister made

no commit-ment to reformthe system inline with hisprevious asser-tion to carryout a review of the system if he gotinto office; instead he focused on thedetermination of claims forprotection stating that “It is [his]objective to speed up the asylumdetermination process to the greatestpossible extent consistent with naturaljustice and asylum law. It is also myresolve to keep the number of persons inthis system as low as humanly possibleconsistent with the needs for temporaryaccommodation”.

FLAC stresses to the Minister theneed for the State to carry out anaudit of its policy of direct provisionand dispersal to ensure it meetshuman rights standards in Irish lawand international human rightstreaties that Ireland has ratified.

Social Welfare & Pensions Bill 2011

The submision is available at:www.flac.ie

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Tributes were paid to Mr.Justice Vivian Lavan, a foudingmember of the Free Legal

Advice Centres, on his retirementfrom the High Court in May this year.2009 marked the 40th anniversary ofFLAC’s founding by four law studentsin 1969, former Attorney GeneralDavid Byrne SC, Denis McCulloughSC, Mr Justice Vivian Lavan and retiredHong Kong magistrate Ian Candy. MrLavan’s career began when aneighbour brought him into theSupreme Court 52 years ago, inspiringhim to then pursue a career in thelegal field.

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2011 Flora Women’s Mini Marathon

26 people participated forFLAC in the Flora Women’sMini Marathon on 6 June. Thetotal raised for far is in excessof €4,000 with money stillcoming in! Thanks to all whotook part and helped out onthe day.

Pictured at the celebration to mark FLAC at 40, left to right: David Byrne SC, Judge VivianLavan,Denis McCullough SC and Judge Ian Candy.

FLAC Publishes Guide to Social Welfare Appeals

In response to queries FLAC has produced this guide to explain the socialwelfare appeals process for claimants who wish to appeal a decision ona social welfare payment. In the current economic climate people are

more reliant on the social welfare system as evidenced by the high volume ofappeals received.The annual intake of appeals increased from 14,070 in 2007to 32,432 in 2010 which represents an increase of 130.5%. The Guide alsoincludes information on making a Freedom of Information request.Availableto download at:

http://www.flac.ie/download/pdf/april_2011_guide_to_sw_appeals_process_final.pdf

flac news final pdf

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