flacnews vol19no4

sary, FLAC has been issuing itsnewsletter to all legal practi-tioners.

This was by way of a thank-you for all the support offeredby lawyers in both professionsthroughout the four decadesof FLAC’s existence. It wasalso to give lawyers a flavour ofwhat FLAC is doing and whatways they can get involved inour work.

From the next issue (due endof March 2010) we will be issu-

ing FLAC News to subscribersonly.

Thus if you wish to keepreceiving the newsletter afterJanuary 2010, please contactus by e-mail [email protected] or by phoneat 01-874 5690 to indicatewhether you wish to receiveFLAC News by post or electron-ically in PDF format.

A donation of €20 towardsproduction costs for subscrip-tion would be most welcome.

flacNewsI S S N 0 7 9 1 4 1 4 8 l V O L U M E 1 9 l N U M B E R 4 l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9

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

Founded in 1969, FLAC is anindependent human rightsorganisation dedicated to therealisation of equal access tojustice for all.

We campaign around our coreareas of work through lobby-ing, report-writing and advo-cacy work. These areas areimproving and expanding thescope of the state civil legal aidsystem, working for fairness inaccess to social welfare, seek-ing reform of the legal and pol-icy regime in debt enforce-ment and management, andpromoting the use of the lawin the public interest forsocially progressive ends.

We offer basic legal informa-tion and advice to the publicthough a network of legaladvice centres all over Irelandand a telephone informationand referral line. FLAC pro-duces information leaflets andguides on a range of legalissues which provide an intro-duction to your rights and howto access law on the area.

For the past year, to mark theorganisation’s 40th anniver-

4400 YYeeaarrss ooff FFLLAACCCCeelleebbrraattiinngg ffoouurr ddeeccaaddeess ooff tthhee

FFrreeee LLeeggaall AAddvviiccee CCeennttrreess iinn IIrreellaanndd

FFLLAACC SSeenniioorr PPoolliiccyy RReesseeaarrcchheerr PPaauull JJooyyccee aaddddrreessssiinngg tthhee rreecceenntt LLaaww RReeffoorrmmCCoonnffeerreennccee oonn PPeerrssoonnaall DDeebbtt aanndd DDeebbtt MMaannaaggeemmeenntt.. SSeeee ppaaggee 66 ffoorr ddeettaaiillss..

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FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

flac News | Vol. 19, No. 4

F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 922

iinn tthhiiss eeddiittiioonn......

Ireland before the UN HRC:One Year On 2

Right to legal aid in District Court 3

Asylum seekers barred fromsocial welfare benefits 4

Briefing note on social welfare 4

Social welfare appeals wins 5

Law Reform Conference calls formajor overhaul of debt laws 6-7

3rd Dave Ellis Memorial Lecture 8-9

40th anniversary insert:No.4: FLAC at work i-iv

Debt-related queries to FLAC rising 10

UK Manifesto for Justice 10

PILA seminar: Human Rights Law 11

New: One Family/FLAC centre 11

Focus on FLAC:Noeline Blackwell 12

Legal aid for students! 13

Inside the Centre:FLAC @ UCC 13

Translating legal need into Legal Aid: Civil Legal Aid in Ireland and Washington State 14-15

FLAC open letter to legislators 16

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

ISSN 07914148

Editing & Layout: Yvonne Woods

Contributors: Noeline Blackwell,Kathrina Bray, Kristine Duncan,Michael Farrell, Hilary Fennell, DrMaurice Hayes, Paul Joyce, Jo Kenny,Gillian Kernan, Jenny McCarthy, PeterMcKenna, Fintan Monaghan, EdelQuinn,Yvonne Woods.

Photos: Fennell Photography, FLAC,One Family, Derek Speirs.

The views of individual contributors donot necessarily represent the views ofFLAC.

IIrreellaanndd bbeeffoorree tthhee UUNN HHuummaannRRiigghhttss CCoommmmiitttteeee:: OOnnee YYeeaarr OOnn

Regular readers of FLAC Newswill be aware that last year theUN Human Rights

Committee reviewed the complianceof Ireland with its obligations underthe UN International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights.

FLAC, together with the Irish Councilfor Civil Liberties and the Irish PenalReform Trust, were involved in shadowreporting of the State’s periodicreport to the Committee and in lob-bying the Committee at the review. Asuccessful follow-up conference wasalso hosted by the three organisationsin April of this year at which membersof the Committee spoke.

At the end of July last year, theCommittee adopted its ConcludingObservations on Ireland and invokedits power under its rules of procedureto require Ireland to respond withinone year on priority areas of concern.These areas of concern are prisonconditions, extraordinary renditionand religion in education.

In August of this year, FLAC, ICCL andIPRT made a submission highlightingits concerns in these areas as well as anumber of other issues which havearisen in the past year such as theattacks on the human rights and equal-ity infrastructures of the state by thecuts to the budgets of certain bodies.

The Committee considered thereports last week and found theState’s report to be incomplete specif-ically in relation to paragraph 11 of theConcluding Observations relating toextraordinary rendition and anti-ter-rorism measures. Next steps involvethe Committee contacting the Statefor further information and a possiblemeeting until their concerns areaddressed.

Ireland’s third periodic report underthe UN International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rightswas due to be submitted by 30 June2007. The State has not yet finalisedits report and intends to hold consul-tations with interested parties inJanuary 2010.

RReecceeiivviinngg hheerr cceerrttiiffiiccaattee ffoorr tthhee TThhoommaass AAddddiiss EEmmmmeett FFeelllloowwsshhiipp 22000099 iissHHeelleenn NNoollaann,, aa ssttuuddeenntt ooff llaaww aatt TTrriinniittyy CCoolllleeggee DDuubblliinn.. PPrreesseennttiinngg tthhee aawwaarrddiiss PPeetteerr WWaarrdd SSCC,, FFLLAACC CChhaaiirrppeerrssoonn.. TThhee cceerreemmoonnyy ttooookk ppllaaccee aass ppaarrtt ooff tthhee

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F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 33

RRiigghhtt ttoo lleeggaall aaiidd nnooww eexxtteennddss ttoo ccoouunnsseell iinntthhee DDiissttrriicctt CCoouurrtt ffoorr sseerriioouuss ooffffeenncceess

The recent Carmody judgmentexpands the constitutionalright to legal aid for persons

facing trial in the District Court forserious offences.

The five-judge Supreme Court upheldclaims by Edward Carmody, a CoKerry farmer charged with 42offences related to alleged wrongfulmovement of cattle, that he had a con-stitutional right prior to trial to applyfor legal aid to include representationby a barrister in addition to a solicitor.The court held that in order to vindi-cate the constitutional right of an indi-gent defendant in the District Courtto a fair trial, he or she must be enti-tled to legal aid with representation bycounsel as well as solicitor where it isestablished that because of the partic-ular gravity and complexity of the caseor other exceptional circumstancessuch representation is essential in theinterests of justice.

The Supreme Court, however, turnedagain to the question of publicly-fund-ed legal representation in this judg-ment. The examination in Carmodyrelated to the extent of legal aid incriminal law proceedings and to thatend, did not at all help answer the vex-ing question of what is needed to givea person the court representationthey require to vindicate their rightsin matters other than criminal law –the Chief Justice stated that the Statewas not required to provide an “opti-mum form of representation” soughtby a defendant, only that essential tothe interests of justice. Nonetheless, itdid turn a spotlight on certain ele-ments of a fair hearing which are help-ful in guiding those charged before ourcourts on the right to representationand public funding in modern daycases.

The question of the complexity of thecase was central to the application byMr. Carmody’s solicitor, Mr Mannix, to

ask for representation by solicitor andbarrister and was an important ele-ment in the judgment. In ruling in hisfavour, the Supreme Court had to takeaccount of the fact that the legal envi-ronment has changed substantiallysince the 1962 Act was enacted, hesaid. Maximum consecutive jail termsfor District Court offences had, forexample, doubled to two years and awide range of potentially complexnew offences had been introduced inareas such as consumer and environ-mental law.

In addition, the nature and volume ofcrime has changed dramatically overthe decades. For example dealing inand supplying illicit drugs was virtuallyunknown in the 1960s. Successivestatutes, apart from amending legisla-tion governing long-standing criminaloffences, have created new ones. As aresult of all these developments theDistrict Court’s criminal jurisdictionhas grown enormously.

The case reminds us of the seriousconsequences for people who have toappear in the District Court. Becauseof the numbers of people who gothrough that court, that lowest level ofthe court system every year (550,694cases disposed of in 2008), we can for-get that the consequences for peoplecan be very serious indeed. People canbe jailed for an offence, or even fornot paying a debt. People can losetheir means of livelihood if it dependson a court licence.The District Courtcan assist in ending discriminationagainst a person. A person’s reputa-tion can (as the court noted) be grave-ly damaged. The penalties can besevere – 11,747 people sentenced toimprisonment – but the charges canalso be serious and complex.

The Carmody case also looked brieflyat the question of “equality of arms”.In this case, the State had a barristerand solicitor. That is often the case.

However, it should not be construedthat if the prosecution had twolawyers, the defendant will always beentitled to two as well. The ChiefJustice stated that equality of armswas only one aspect of the right of adefendant to a fair and just hearingand warned that:

(I)t might also be noted that thatCourt has not found that simpleparity of representation is requiredby the principle of “equality ofarms”. In general terms, the princi-ple or notion of equality of armsmeans that neither party in crimi-nal trials should be procedurallydisadvantaged as compared to theother party.

If equal representation is not to be anoverarching deciding factor, then theCarmody judgment may result in littlepractical change in the DistrictCourts.As all the lawyers in the case –whether judging or representing theparties – agreed, solicitors will for themost part be perfectly comfortable inproviding full representation.They willhave the capacity even in complexcases to do so.

Thus it was the size as well as thecomplexity of the case againstCarmody and the need for back-ground research and preparation thatalerted his solicitor to the need toengage counsel. He considered thiscase to raise points which wereunusual and exceptional in compari-son to the generality of prosecutionsin the District Court.

If this case is to be guidance for thejudiciary, then it seems that solicitorswill have to establish the exceptionalnature of the cases in order to con-vince the court to certify for counsel.

The case reference is Carmody vMinister for Justice, Equality & LawReform & Ors 2009 [IESC 71].

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

Within days of a group ofsocial welfare appeal deci-sions that said some asylum

seekers could qualify for state benefits,the Government moved to change thelaw and exclude all asylum seekers as aclass from getting benefits, regardless oftheir individual circumstances.

At the beginning of December 2009, theChief Social Welfare appeals Officerallowed appeals in five cases taken byFLAC, where the Department of Socialand Family Affairs had held that the appli-cants could not satisfy the HabitualResidence Condition for welfare benefitssimply because they were in the asylumprocess.

The Chief Appeals Officer rejected argu-ments that asylum seekers should beexcluded from benefits based on aSupreme Court judgment that pre-datedthe introduction of the HabitualResidence Condition in 2004, and thatdid not deal with social welfare issues.He said that it was not relevant to thecases in question. He said there could beno blanket exclusion of asylum seekersas a group and that each case should bedealt with on its own merits.

The Chief Appeals Officer is the head ofthe statutory appeals body set up todetermine social welfare disputes.

The cases in question in this group ofappeals dealt with Child Benefit,Disability Allowance, Carer’s Allowanceand State Pension. The Chief AppealsOfficer held that where people in theasylum process had been in this countryfor some time, had established connec-tions with Ireland, e.g. through learningEnglish, doing training courses, havingother family members living here, havingchildren at school etc, and where theyclearly intended to stay here if allowedto do so, then, on a case by case basis,they might be held to satisfy the HabitualResidence Condition.

He strongly criticised what in one casehe called “the extraordinary length of

time it has taken to process theAppellant’s application”, which left appli-cants in a sort of limbo for years on end.

Within a week of the Chief AppealsOfficer’s decisions and without any pub-licity, the Minister for Social and FamilyAffairs slipped an amendment into anemergency Social Welfare Bill that wasgoing through the Dail after the budget.Ironically, it was on International HumanRights Day (10th December). Theamendment specifically stated that per-sons who had applied for asylum or pro-tection in Ireland could not be regardedas habitually resident for social welfarepurposes while they were awaiting deci-sions on their cases.

There was no time limit on how longthey might have to wait before theycould become habitually resident.

The Social Welfare Bill was guillotinedthrough the Dail and this amendmentwas voted through without even beingdiscussed. It is now law and effectivelycreates a second class of residents in theState. Children of one class are entitledto Child Benefit. Older people are enti-tled to a pension and other persons toother benefits. Children, older peopleand others of the lesser class are not soentitled. They are limited to direct pro-vision accommodation and board and

their €19.10 or €9.60 per week spend-ing money.

This is a deeply divisive move. Childrenneed nappies, toys, new runners andschoolbags and money for school tripswhether they are Irish citizens or not.Depriving one group of such things willset them apart the way workhouse chil-dren or children from orphanages usedto be set apart in the past. It will cer-tainly do nothing for integration andsocial harmony in the future.

This hasty and ill-thought-out measure mayhit other groups as well. Migrant workerswho become undocumented and spousesof migrant workers who are deserted orwho have to flee the family home because

of domestic violence may be deprived ofbenefits as well, because the Act now saysthat a person “who does not have a rightto reside in the State” should not beregarded as habitually resident.

This mean-minded amendment treatsthe Social Welfare Appeals Office withvery little respect. It undermines theindependence of the Appeals Office.Social welfare claimants are unlikely tohave much confidence in the appeals sys-tem if they get the impression that anytime an Appeals Officer makes a decisionthat the Government does not like, theGovernment will simply change the law.

And all this is to save quite a smallamount of money at the expense of cre-ating social division and disharmony anda good deal of hardship for peoplewhose lives are difficult enough already.



AAssyylluumm sseeeekkeerrss bbaarrrreedd ffrroomm wweellffaarree bbeenneeffiittssMMiinniisstteerr lloosseess aappppeeaallss aanndd mmoovveess ggooaallppoossttss

FLAC has collaborated withCrosscare, Migrants’ RightsCentre Ireland and the

Vincentian Refugee Centre to pro-duce a briefing note on immigrants’rights to social welfare in Ireland.

The document is intended to be auseful factual resource for peopleconsidering the issue of non-Irishnationals and access to social welfare.It was published on 9 December2009 and has been circulated to TDs,senators and media. However it willnow need to be updated in view ofthe recent development (see left).

You can download the briefing fromthe FLAC website at:

http://www.flac.ie/campaigns/cur-rent/campaign-for-fairness-in-social-

welfare-decisions-on-hrc

There you will find another briefingon the Habitual Residence Conditionwhich has been updated recently.

BBrriieeffiinngg nnootteeoonn iimmmmiiggrraannttss’’rriigghhttss ttoo ssoocciiaall

wweellffaarree

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04


55F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9

As reported on page 4,at the beginning ofDecember 2009 the

Chief Social Welfare AppealsOfficer held in five casestaken by FLAC that theapplicants in those cases,who had all been in the asy-lum process, satisfied theHabitual ResidenceCondition for receiving socialwelfare benefits while theywere still in that process.

All the applicants had been inIreland for more than 4.5years at the time of the ChiefAppeals Officer’s decisionand one had been here forover six years. All but onehad been recognised asrefugees or given leave toremain by the time the finaldecision was made and hadbegun to receive benefits.

The applicants included ablind man who had fled hishome country with his son,on whom he is totallydependent, and his son; awoman who has a son who isprofoundly deaf and has adisabling condition; a womanof pension age who has beenhere for more than six years;and a woman with a childwho has a medical conditionthat cannot be treated in herhome country. She had com-pleted training as a nursingassistant and has been joinedby her husband who hasbecome involved in localyouth activities.

The benefits they hadapplied for included ChildBenefit, Disability Allowance,Carer’s Allowance and State(Old Age) Pension.

A clear pattern emergedfrom these decisions. TheChief Appeals Officer tookthe view that there could beno blanket exclusion of asy-lum seekers from social wel-fare benefits and that it waspossible for asylum seekersto satisfy the HabitualResidence Condition beforethey were given leave toremain. The key factors herelied on were: whetherthey had been here for a sig-nificant period of time; hadthey done training coursesor tried to involve them-selves with the local com-munity or integrate them-selves into Irish society; didthey have problems or spe-cial needs that required orwarranted additional bene-fits that would be paid toIrish citizens with similarproblems?

The Chief Appeals Officer alsorepeatedly criticised the longdelays in reaching decisions onasylum applications and saidasylum seekers should not bedisadvantaged or refused ben-efits for long periods of timebecause of this.

The Chief Appeals Officer’sdecisions outlined a reasonableand humane interpretation ofthe Habitual ResidenceCondition. It will be veryunfortunate if the amendmentto the Social Welfare Billmeans that this reasonableapproach is abandoned infavour of treating asylumseekers as second class inhabi-tants of the State, to be givenjust enough to survive in thehope that hardship will makethem go away.

VViiccttiimmss ooff ssuucccceessss?? HHooww tthheessoocciiaall wweellffaarree aappppeeaallss wweerree wwoonn

FLAC recently success-fully represented anEU national separated

from her Irish partner in asocial welfare appeal.

The case concerned claimsfor Supplementary WelfareAllowance and One-ParentFamily Payment. The origi-nal decision-makers hadrejected both claims on thebasis that the claimant hadnot been continuously resi-dent in the State for 2 years.

As FLAC has previouslynoted, Irish legislation andEU law requires decision-makers applying theHabitual ResidenceCondition to weigh up thefive Swaddling factors,namely: length of residence;length and purpose ofabsence; employment pat-tern; centre of interests andfuture intentions as itappears from the circum-stances.

The claimant’s two childrenare also settled in the State– one sees her father regu-larly and the other is in sec-ondary education. In thatcontext the Appeals Officerfound that the claimant hadestablished her centre ofinterest in Ireland at a dateprior to 2 years’ residence inthe State.

This case demonstrates theimportance of assessingclaims under the HRC byweighing up all five factors.

EEUU nnaattiioonnaall wwiinnssssoocciiaall wweellffaarreeaappppeeaall oovveerr

hhaabbiittuuaall rreessiiddeennccee

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



The Law Reform Commissionpublished its Consultation Paperon Personal Debt and Debt

Management in September 2009. It is animpressive and detailed piece of work,examining the deficiencies in the Irishlegal system in the area of debt enforce-ment Recent international developmentsin credit and debt law and Irish research,including FLAC’s two major reports, AnEnd based on Means? (2003) and To NoOne’s Credit (2009), are comprehensivelyreviewed. The Commission provides awide range of provisional recommenda-tions for reform, focusing particularly onour outdated debt enforcement proce-dures. Submissions from interested par-ties (including members of the public) canbe made until mid-January 2010.

As over-indebtedness begins to affectmore and more people in Irish society,the Commission attached greaturgency to the issue by holding itsAnnual Conference 2009 on this sub-ject. The event was chaired byCommission President Mrs JusticeCatherine McGuinness and opened bythe Minister for Justice, Equality andLaw Reform, Dermot Ahern TD, whoacknowledged that many individualsand families are now affected by theserious economic downturn.

The Minister accepted that the debtenforcement system needs to becomemore humane, efficient and effective.Hestressed that urgent reform required a‘whole-of-Government’ approach and aCabinet Committee of Ministers todrive policy. He shared theCommission’s view that litigation shouldbe a last resort. However, in relation tothe Commission’s proposal to establisha Debt Enforcement Office to overseeenforcement and debt settlement appli-cations, he suggested that the concept ofsuch an office is attractive but wouldhave to be cost effective. The Stateshould not be regarded as a collectionagency for all personal debts. He indicat-ed that the final recommendations ofthe Commission would strongly guidethe Government. Implementing new

legislation in a short time would be achallenge but the momentum for changehad started and would be maintained bythe Government.

FLAC’s Senior Policy Researcher andauthor of its two reports on debt, PaulJoyce, traced the development ofFLAC’S policy work and research, culmi-nating in proposals for law reform. Hereminded the audience of some of theproposals FLAC had made in 2003 inrelation to debt enforcement and bank-ruptcy but regretted the failure of theState to initiate reforms in better times.He criticised the reckless approach tothe provision of credit and weak finan-cial regulation evident in recent years.

Paul praised the Commission’s work andexpressed FLAC’s appreciation that manyof its recommendations for change hadbeen approved in the text. Key guidingprinciples underpin its recommendationsincluding the need to reconcile the inter-ests and rights of not only creditors anddebtors but also the public interest. Adebt enforcement system must thereforebe balanced, proportionate, achieve legit-imate goals and be designed with a cred-

it society in mind.

Expressing hope that reform in debtenforcement and bankruptcy was immi-nent, Paul suggested that a co-ordinatedNational Strategy to manage the con-sumer debt crisis was now required giventhe growing mortgage arrears problem.The ‘Renewed Programme forGovernment’ had suggested exploringways to protect those in mortgagearrears, but no firm proposals had yetresulted. He concluded that recommen-dations in the paper should be imple-mented at the earliest opportunity andthat complementary measures be put inplace to protect indebted people who arevictims of events outside their control.

Mary O’Dea, acting Chief Executive andConsumer Director of the FinancialRegulator’s Office, outlined theRegulator’s Consumer Protection andMortgage Arrears Codes designed tosupervise the activities of lenders. Sheaccepted that its approach to financial reg-ulation was framed in a more benign envi-ronment and,with the benefit of hindsight,things might have been done differentlyand stronger action taken to dampen

LLaaww RReeffoorrmm CCoommmmiissssiioonn ccoonnffeerreennccee

L-R: Minister Dermot Ahern, Hon. Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness and Patricia Rickard Clarke

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FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



credit growth. She expressed amazementat claims by the Irish Banking Federation(IBF) that supervision of the banks hadbeen weakened by the setting up of theRegulator, because it had focused exces-sively on consumer information ratherthan monitoring banks health. She sug-gested that both regulators and banksworldwide needed to work hard to regainconsumers trust.Mary concluded that theFinancial Regulator would welcome andfully support a policy initiative that willwork for people who are genuinely tryingto address their debt problems.

Michael Culloty, Social Policy andCommunications officer with the MoneyAdvice and Budgeting Service (MABS),outlined the process of money advice,from the assessment of the client’s finan-cial liability and maximisation of his or herincome through to the determining of pri-ority debts and the drawing up of a repay-ment plan and monitoring of that plan.He explained that money managementwas an important part of MABS pro-grammes and community education proj-ects nationally. He referred to submis-sions made on law reform issues byMABS and initiatives taken with the cred-it industry,such as the MABS/IBF Protocolon debt management. The detrimentaleffects of over-indebtedness on healthand well being were documented. MABSview is that the legal process was inap-propriate and out-of-date. Debt issuesshould be dealt with outside of courts asmuch as possible, while the legal processshould support, strengthen and facilitate

voluntary negotiated settlements andshould move away from an individualcreditor approach to a collectiveapproach.

Patricia Rickard Clarke of the LRC sum-marised the wide array of proposals forreform. She stressed that the paper hadconsidered all aspects of the EuropeanCommission’s six ‘building blocks’ to man-age the problem of over-indebtedness butthat the principal recommendationsfocused on personal insolvency law anddebt enforcement procedures. TheCommission concluded that theBankruptcy Act 1988 is outdated, ineffec-tive and wholly inappropriate for the real-ities of consumer debt. Voluntary settle-ments are taking place but they need a leg-islative basis to provide legal certainty.

The Commission proposes a compre-hensive reform of the current Act andthe introduction of legislation to put inplace a non-judicial debt settlementoption. The key features of such anoption would include a right of ‘earneddischarge’, i.e. the write –off of residualunsecured debt at the end of a repay-ment plan that might typically be of threeto five years. Access to such an optionwould be dependent upon a test of insol-vency and good faith.

Patricia suggested that current debtenforcement mechanisms pre-dated thederegulation of credit and revealed anantiquated view of debt default.Amongstmany detailed recommendations here

were the establishment of a CentralDebt Enforcement Office that wouldoversee updated enforcement mecha-nisms and ensure that they are appropri-ately used. All applications to enforcewould be on a single application formand the Enforcement Office woulddecide,on the basis of full information onthe debtor’s income and assets, whatform of enforcement (if any) would pro-ceed. It would also consider whethernon-judicial debt settlement might bemore suitable on a case-by-case basis.

Papers were delivered in the afternoonsession on ‘Credit, Debt and ConsumerSolvency Regulation: Fundamental Issues’by Professor Ian Ramsey of theUniversity of Kent; ‘Credit Reporting:The Future’ by Marc Rothemond of theEuropean Credit Research Institute and‘A Debt Enforcement Office?’ by DrDavid Capper of Queen’s UniversityBelfast. These papers demonstrated justhow far Ireland has to travel to mod-ernise the credit and debt regulatoryinfrastructure.

The recession has catapulted increasingnumbers of people into a debt crisis ofunmanageable proportions. The soonergenuine debt settlement and appropriateenforcement is available, the better. Halfmeasures will not suffice. FLAC will bekeeping a watching brief on develop-ments and make its own final submissionon the paper in addition to the researchreports and submissions already pub-lished and available on FLAC’s website.

ccaallllss ffoorr mmaajjoorr cchhaannggeess iinn ddeebbtt llaawwss

L-R: Michael Culloty (MABS), Patricia Rickard Clarke (LRC) andPaul Joyce (FLAC)

Speakers and researchers from the Commission conference

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

88 F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9

If I must preach, I take my text fromSir James Matthews, an Irish judgein the late Victorian period, who

declared: “In England justice is open toall, like the Ritz Hotel.”

Even in the days when we were youngand innocent about these things, youdid not have to be a genius to detectthe logical fallacy, the contradiction interms, the oxymoron, if you want to goup-market.

In the first place the Ritz was open onlyto those who had money – and notalways then. For those not properlydressed, or with the right accent, or notknowing how much to tip the maitre d’on the way in or the concierge on theway out, there was still no ready entrée,no particular pleasure when there and arather poor prospect of a return visit.

Legal aid has gone some way towardsopening access to the courts, legal rep-resentation and advice has made thingssomewhat more comfortable, morecomprehensible, but there is still a longway to go. The majesty of the law, soreassuring to those steeped in it, can beoppressive to those who meet it onlyperiodically. For most people the expe-

rience of going to court is ordealenough, not to mind the adversarial cul-ture in which challenge is merciless andthe prize goes to those who can shoutthe loudest or muster the bigger guns.

In civil cases, where the right to freelegal aid is even more curtailed, theplaying field has not been sufficientlylevelled, there is no equality of arms,especially between the citizen and theagencies of the state, and the work ofFLAC becomes more necessary thanever.

This being an eponymous lecture it isappropriate to pay tribute to the workof Dave Ellis and to celebrate not onlyhis energy and his legal expertise, but alife devoted to the service of the poor,the disadvantaged, the marginalised andthe casualties of society. He recognisedthat empowerment involved not onlyadvocacy but information and educa-tion, and mobilising communities inpolitical action to assert their legalrights and entitlements.

He was one of the first to see the chal-lenge of urbanisation which Ireland iseven yet coming to terms with, thedemographic changes, the emergence of

a new sub-culture especially during theperiod of rapid if not always well-direct-ed economic growth which not onlyfailed to float all ships but widened thesocial and economic distance betweenthe haves and the have-nots, an Irelandchallenged to cope with the pressuresof immigration, of a new ethnic mix andfundamental changes in social and cul-tural values as old landmarks disappear,old certainties dissolve. In all of this hewas one of those who worked tireless-ly under the radar, binding up thewounds of society, sustaining the weakwhom other agencies fail and prevent-ing society from falling apart at theseams.

We are also celebrating the 40thanniversary of FLAC, and there is muchto celebrate – first just being there, likethe Abbé Sieyes in the FrenchRevolution, J’ai survi. But there is morethan that. To have maintained energyand hope, to continue to attract gener-ations of young volunteers while retain-ing the support and enthusiasm of theirpredecessors, and to have preservedthe integrity and moral purpose of theorganisation, its commitment to thecore values of the foundation and thesupport and credibility among the com-

DDaavvee EElllliiss MMeemmoorriiaall LLeeccttuurree::


The 3rd Annual Dave Ellis Memorial Lecture was given by Dr Maurice Hayes at the Law Society ofIreland on Tuesday 1 December. Dr Hayes spoke on the theme of "Access to Justice" to a large gather-ing of FLAC supporters and family and friends of the late Dave Ellis, a community activist who dedicat-ed his career to working with community groups in areas including welfare rights, legal aid, legal educa-tion and legal entitlements generally. Below is an excerpt from Dr Hayes’ speech:

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Dr Maurice Hayes (centre) delivered the Dave Ellis AnnualMemorial Lecture for 2009. Also pictured are Peter Ward SC,Chairperson, and Noeline Blackwell, Director General of FLAC

Eilis Barry BL and Paul Joyce, FLAC Senior Policy Researcher, at the Dave Ellis Memorial Lecture

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

iF L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9

FLAC’s campaign to promote greateraccess to justice includes improving thequantity and quality of legal informationavailable to the public.To this end, FLACoffers legal assistance in the form of ourtelephone information and referral lineand our network of legal advice centres.

Telephone information & referralline: This offers first-stop legal informa-tion to the public.While legal advice is notgiven over the phone, callers can receivebasic legal information. If a caller requiresadvice, he/she will be referred either toone of FLAC’s legal advice centres, or toanother organisation/agency which may beable to help him/her further.

In 2008 FLAC had 9,244 calls to its infor-mation line, with 2009 showing similarnumbers despite much lengthier and

more complex queries. Family lawremains the largest area, but in the pastyear there has been a major rise in debtqueries.

Legal advice centres: FLAC operatesa network of Legal Advice Centresthroughout Ireland in conjunction withthe Citizens Information Board. Theseadvice centres are open in the eveningand the service is provided by volunteerswho are all fully qualified solicitors andbarristers. They are located all over thecountry, usually on the premises of thelocal Citizens Information Centre. Atthese centres, people can receive legaladvice on their issue in confidence. FLACalso operates specialist advice centres inImmigration, Family and Employment law.Our centres receive over 10,000 visitorseach year.

Legal information publications:FLAC publishes a series of leaflets andguides explaining such issues as: separa-tion, maintenance, wills, probate, enduringpower of attorney and maternity leave.These provide people with basic informa-tion on their rights and how to access thelaw.These publications are distributed toCitizens information Centres in hardcopyand are also available online.

FLAC has worked to establish alegitimate system of civil legal aidsince its founding in 1969. Early

examples of this work are the establish-ment of the Coolock Community LawCentre (now Northside CLC) in 1975and FLAC's involvement on the PringleCommittee in 1974. More recently, FLAChas continued to campaign for a morecomprehensive legal aid system.

In 2005, FLAC did an in-depth analysis ofthe civil legal aid scheme, entitled Accessto Justice:A Right or a Privilege? That reportidentified that, after 25 years of state legalaid, the scheme had failed to achieve itsstated goal: “to make the necessary legalservices available to every deserving per-son in the country”. It noted that the sys-tem – though mandated to provide rep-resentation in a wide variety of legal areas– regularly focused primarily on family lawwith over 90% of cases each year fallingwithin this heading. It also highlighted thatthe Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 officially

excludes many areas of law from thescheme. This gives rise to hardship andunfairness, such as when people aredenied representation at EmploymentAppeal Tribunal hearings or are threat-ened with eviction.

Another FLAC report issued in 2009 enti-tled Civil Legal Aid in Ireland: Forty Years on. Itnoted a number of improvements in thecivil legal aid scheme. These included anincreased emphasis by the Legal Aid Boardon Alternative Dispute Resolution in fami-ly law matters, an updated website, areduced means test threshold to qualifyfor legal aid and a wider range of informa-tion. The problems highlighted in 2005remained, however.The 2009 report calledon the State to prioritise the needs ofthose who need aid and assistance toaccess legal services and the courts. Itwent on to note that even a fully function-ing and well resourced legal aid systemwould not provide universal access to jus-tice. Access to justice requires a commu-

nity-orientated approach, encompassingthe needs of marginalised groups often leftwithout a platform for their needs.

FLAC continues to monitor the delivery ofthe civil legal aid service. The increasinglength of waiting lists in 2009, with appli-cants in nine of the Board’s Law Centresnow having to wait for 5 or 6 months ormore to see a solicitor, has been and con-tinues to be a concern. People who have alegal problem will rarely improve theirposition if they have to wait for 6 monthsto get a first consultation with a solicitor.The lengthening waiting lists is a problemof reduced financial and staff resources inthe Legal Aid Board. However the reces-sion cannot be used as a reason to denyaccess to legal services and representationto those who need it most.Equal access tojustice is a fundamental human right for all.A right to legal aid exists to implementthat fundamental human right. FLAC willcontinue to work to advance this right inthe years to come.

FFLLAACC aatt wwoorrkk:: WWhhaatt wwee aarree ddooiinngg ttooddaayy

OOppeenniinngg llaaww ttoo aallll:: HHooww FFLLAACC pprroovviiddeess lleeggaall iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn aanndd aaddvviiccee

AAcccceessss ttoo jjuussttiiccee:: PPrroommoottiinngg CCiivviill LLeeggaall AAiidd

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Getting legal advice at a FLAC centre

FLAC currently campaigns around four broad areas of work: Civil Legal Aid, Credit & Debt Law Reform,Social Welfare Law and Public Interest Law. We also engage in providing information and advice on thelaw to the public through our long-standing information services - a telephone information & referralline plus a network of legal advice centres. Here we present an overview of that work.

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

Many of Ireland's laws in the areaof debt enforcement and man-agement date from the 19th

and early 20th century.While society haschanged utterly since the days of thedebtor's prison graphicallyhighlighted by CharlesDickens in novels such as LittleDorrit, the state in Ireland hassingularly failed to reform thelaws governing the area ofconsumer debt to reflect thefact that we now live in acredit dominated society.Eventhe Bankruptcy Act, althoughit was passed into law in 1988after a lengthy review period,is more reminiscent of aVictorian era in terms of its punitiveapproach.As a result, for those individualswho were encouraged by government andcredit institutions alike to indulge in thecredit boom of recent times and now findtheir financial situation is unmanageable,there is cold comfort in the legal system.

Since taking up a focus on campaigning forreform of laws around debt enforcementin the late 1990s, FLAC has been a consis-tent advocate and independent voice mak-ing proposals for legislative and policychange on the issue of consumer debt, toprotect vulnerable people who do notenjoy the benefit of a high-powered, high-level lobby group.The organisation's brief-ing notes and submissions to politicians onproposed legislation have led in someinstances to amendments in final drafts.Our detailed research reports have madea large number of constructive recom-mendations for change and offer widepotential for legal and policy reform.FLAC's information and advice serviceshave provided members of the public withoptions, limited as they may be under thecurrent legal framework, for dealing withdebt problems. FLAC also acts as a train-er and legal support to the state's MoneyAdvice and Budgeting Service (MABS) onconsumer credit and debt law and otherlegal issues.

An area of considerable concern as 2009ends is the question of how to tacklemortgage arrears. During the boom years,with rocketing property prices, many peo-ple were granted mortgage loans whichunder closer scrutiny appear to have been

beyond their financial capacity to maintain,even without adverse events like job lossor reduced income. The government'ssole response to date to the inevitableswelling tide of arrears has been a code of

conduct for mortgage lendersthat imposes a temporaryhold of six months (12 in thecase of the recapitalisedbanks) on banks from initiat-ing repossession proceedingsagainst borrowers in arrears.At the time of writing, a fur-ther extension of this mora-torium for a further sixmonths is said to be underreview.

When the draft code became available inearly 2009, FLAC prepared a detailed sub-mission evaluating its weaknesses andcalled for far stronger measures to beintroduced when the final version turnedout to be even weaker than the draft.Having now monitored the issue through-out the year and seen a large increase inenquiries around arrears to FLAC fromstruggling bor-rowers, inOctober 2009we publishedan open letterto legislatorscalling forwider andmore focuseddebate arounddealing with ap o t e n t i a larrears ava-lanche. It isnow clear thata moratorium on legal proceedings, nomatter how lengthy, will not solve everycase and setting up a rescue fund must beprioritised.

Another issue of huge concern has beenthat of imprisonment related to debt,addressed the United Nations' HumanRights Committee on no less than threeseparate occasions. In Ireland a creditormay still apply to imprison of a debtorwho has failed to pay court-orderedinstalments on a debt. FLAC has beencampaigning for change in this law at manylevels for many years,most recently with ajoint Shadow Report to the UN

Committee. In June 2009 the ruling in theMcCann case, taken by a MABS client withrepresentation from NorthsideCommunity Law Centre, led to amendinglegislation whereby the onus is now clear-ly on a creditor to show beyond a rea-sonable doubt that the debtor’s failure topay instalments was due to his/her ‘wilfulrefusal’ or ‘culpable neglect’. The debtormust be present in court and is entitled tolegal aid to defend his/her position.

This case shows the value of strategic liti-gation in achieving reform. In tandem withsuch casework, briefing papers andreports are also highly effective.Incorporating a study of debtors who hadpersonally been through the debt enforce-ment system, FLAC issued a report in July2009, To No One's Credit, which makes araft of law and policy reform proposals.This followed on its 2003 report thatexamined the deficiencies in debt enforce-ment generally, An End based on Means?These reports featured prominently in theLaw Reform Commission's (LRC) detailedconsultation paper on Personal Debt

M a n a g e m e n tand DebtEnforcement ,and a number ofthe provisionalrecommenda-tions made inthe Papere x p r e s s l yapprove FLAC’srecommenda-tions. TheCommission'sfinal report willfollow in early

2010. At the LRC's annual conference inNovember 2009, at which FLAC renewedits call for a co-ordinated national strate-gy to deal with the consumer debt crisis,the Minister for Justice, Equality and LawReform said that he will take swift actionbased on the final proposals put forwardby the Commission. We are thereforenow very hopeful that our work onreforming the law in this area will bearsome fruit.

In any event, FLAC will continue to cam-paign for humane laws and effective policyin the areas of debt and credit, to protectand enhance consumer rights and interests.

iiii F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9


SSttaannddiinngg uupp ffoorr CCoonnssuummeerr RRiigghhttss:: RReeffoorrmmiinngg CCrreeddiitt && DDeebbtt LLaaww

Launching FLAC’s report To No One’s Credit in July 2009

(L-R): Mary Coughlan, Noeline Blackwell & Paul Joyce

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 iii


FLAC has worked on informingpeople about their social welfarerights and helping them to

achieve those rights since it was firstestablished. Social welfare paymentsaccount for 34% of current Governmentspending and so the social welfare sys-tem affects a very substantial section ofthe population, inevitably including thepoorest and most vulnerable. There arevery many different social welfare bene-fits and the decisions about who qualifiesfor what arevitally importantto the peoplewho depend onthese payments.Given that theright to SocialWelfare hasbeen establishedin law (by theEuropean Courtof Human Rightsin the case ofStec & Others v.the UnitedKingdom) therehas to be a wayof vindicatingthat right legallywhen things gowrong and baddecisions aremade. In Ireland,that route isthrough theSocial WelfareAppeals system,a quasi-judicialmechanism for reviewing decisions onentitlement to benefits. Thus FLAC hasconcentrated its work in the area ofsocial welfare on the appeals system inrecent times.

Dozens of decisions are taken every dayabout people’s entitlements, which oftenliterally determine what is put on thetable for families in the evening or whatgoes into the children’s lunch boxes inthe morning. Some decisions will beinfluenced by cultural misunderstand-ings, stereotyping and unintentional prej-udice; underlying everything, there maystill be a lingering attitude that socialwelfare is a form of charity for which thepoor should be duly grateful, rather than

something which is a basic right in amodern democratic society. Even if wedid establish a better social welfare sys-tem, decisions about eligibility for andamounts of benefits would still have tobe made and there would still have to bea mechanism to correct the the mistakesthat inevitably occur, and to clarify thelaw so that it can be applied fairly to all.

Despite hearings being quite informal,the appeals process is still quite intimi-

dating for mostapplicants andthere is a realneed for advo-cacy servicesthat cana c c o m p a n yinexperiencedand vulnerableapplicants tothese hearings.Overall, 48% ofall appeals in2008 resultedin some advan-tage to theapplicants; thatpercentage hasbeen fairly con-stant for thelast five yearsor more. Thisdoes notreflect verywell on thestandard of ini-tial decisions. Italso raises a

question about how many people weretoo frightened or too uninformed aboutthe system to lodge an appeal whentheir application was refused.

Another barrier to vindication of welfarerights for some particularly marginalisedgroups is the Habitual ResidenceCondition (HRC).The HRC, which appli-cants for social welfare benefits arerequired to satisfy, was introduced inMay 2004, ostensibly to prevent a fearedinflux of “welfare tourists” from the EastEuropean EU Accession states. Theinflux did not happen but one of theeffects of the introduction of the HRCwas to stop asylum-seekers and peopleseeking humanitarian leave to remain

from getting Child Benefit, which hadhitherto been a universal benefit paid toall families without distinction.

In 2005, FLAC launched a campaign torestore Child Benefit to all children -regrettably it was not successful. In con-nection with the campaign, we took on anumber of cases for people in the asy-lum/leave to remain process who hadbeen refused Child Benefit on the basisthat they did not fulfil the HRC. In somecases, we found that well-preparedrenewed applications or appeals led torevised decisions fairly swiftly and thebenefit was granted.

Controversially, in February 2008, theDepartment of Social and Family Affairs,relying on an interpretation of aSupreme Court judgment (Goncescu &Others v. Minister for Justice, Equality andLaw Reform [2003] IESC), claimed thatno-one in the asylum or leave to remainprocess could be regarded as “resident”in the State for the purposes of theHRC. FLAC represented four applicantsin connection with the Department’sreview application, ultimately obtaining adecision that Goncescu “...did not have asocial welfare relevance”. All four appli-cants were awarded Child Benefit, withsubstantial arrears in some cases. In themeantime, FLAC had also asked theChief Appeals Officer to revise fourdecisions by an Appeals Officer who hadrelied on this argument to reject appealsfrom a group of applicants who were inthe asylum process. All of these havebeen successful.

To date, our use of the Social WelfareAppeals mechanism has been reasonablysuccessful in vindicating the rights of oneparticular group of social welfare. Alongthe way, our focus has broadened outfrom just Child Benefit applicants to thewider Habitual Residence Condition andwe have represented people seeking avariety of different benefits affected bythat condition. Despite FLAC’s generallypositive experience in the appealsprocess, we believe it could be improvedby greater independence from thedepartment, publication of its decisions,and less delays in processing appeals.(See page 4 for recent developments inthis area.)

MMaakkiinngg tthhee ssyysstteemm ffaaiirreerr ffoorr eevveerryyoonnee:: CChhaalllleennggiinngg SSoocciiaall WWeellffaarree llaaww

In 2006 FLAC launched a campaign to restore Child Benefit to all children in Ireland

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

iivv F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9


For many years FLAC has led anumber of initiatives to raiseawareness about the ways that law

can be used to benefit people who aremarginalised and disadvantaged. Workingwith a range of other organisations, FLAChas sought to expand the role of law intackling social issues.

In order to consolidate and further thiswork, the Public Interest LawAlliance (PILA) opened its doors as aproject of FLAC in June 2009. PILA wasofficially launched at the celebration ofthe fortieth anniversary of the founding ofFLAC in April and it is hoped that PILAwill become a focal point for developingpublic interest law in Ireland.

What do we mean by publicinterest law? There is no fixed defini-tion of public interest law and it does notfall neatly within a substantive category oflaw. For FLAC,public interest law is a wayof working with the law. For example, lit-igating an issue that might arise in the areaof housing with ramifications for thewider community might be considered ause of the law in the public interest.Theaim of this project is to facilitate and pro-mote the use of the law in the publicinterest for the advancement and protec-tion of human rights for the benefit of themarginalised and disadvantaged.

PILA, the Alliance: PILA seeks toinvolve a community of individuals andorganisations committed to using the lawin various ways in the public interestwhich involves NGOS, Community LawCentres, law firms, sole practitioners,international public interest law organisa-tions, legal academics, law students andthe community.

How does PILA carry out itswork? While litigation is mentioned inthe example above, this is only one meansof using the law in the public interest andoften is a means of last resort. PILA’sother areas of work include law reform,legal education and awareness-raisingamong lawyers and in the community.Much of this work will be carried out bystrengthening the legal capacity of existingNGOs and grassroots organisations.

Over the past six months, PILA has beenworking to develop its areas of work.Research is ongoing into barriers to pub-lic interest litigation such as the threat ofan adverse costs order, standing, moot-ness and class actions.

The project has hosted its first of a seriesof seminars. The topic was the experi-ences of the use of the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights in the UKand Ireland. At the seminar, PILAannounced the development of an infor-mal lawyers’ register.One of PILA’s objec-tives is to develop pro bono initiatives tomatch legal expertise with legal needs ofthe NGOs with which PILA will be work-ing. By means of the register PILA intendsto involve practitioners in public interestlaw e.g. community legal education, legalresearch, law reform submissions, case-work. If you are interested in the oppor-tunity to apply your legal skills in a newcontext, please contact PILA’s LegalOfficer at [email protected].

Lawyers from 12 organisations (NGOsand community law centres) attended ameeting for lawyers working in the sectorand were introduced to solicitors fromtwo new law centres: the ITM LawCentre and the Mercy Legal ResourceCentre.Through the network PILA hopesto identify training needs for public inter-est law seminars as well as opportunitiesfor organisations to co-ordinate on issuesof common concern. Outreach to NGOsand organisations, both nationally andinternationally has been a core part of theinitial work of the project.

PILA welcomed academics and represen-tatives of the legal professional bodiesinvolved and interested in clinical legaleducation to a roundtable on the issue inOctober. A project objective is to exam-ine the scope to support the develop-ment of public interest law in clinical legaleducation programmes at third level insti-tutions across the island of Ireland.

A range of projects and initiatives underthe four strands of PILA's work are ongo-ing and we look forward to reportingtheir progress in FLAC News in duecourse.

PILA Bulletin: The Public Interest LawNetwork Bulletin, which FLAC has circu-lated since 2006, has recently been re-launched as the PILA Bulletin. A coregroup of 500 legal practitioners, legal andnon-legal NGOs, academics and otherinterested parties continue to receive thebulletin with numbers continuing to grow.The bi-monthly electronic bulletin pro-vides updates on the most current devel-opments in the area of public interest lawand litigation, such as legislative changes,jurisprudence and on-going campaignsboth nationally and internationally as wellas filling you in on conferences andevents.To receive the bulletin, simply dropan e-mail to the Bulletin team at [email protected].

For further information on the work ofPILA, please visit the temporary websiteat www.pila.ie.A new and comprehen-sive site will be launched in the comingmonths.

PPuubblliicc IInntteerreesstt LLaaww AAlllliiaannccee:: LLaaww ffoorr ccoommmmuunniittiieess aanndd ccoommmmuunniittiieess ffoorr llaaww

Attendees at a PILA seminar on Legal Education in October 2009

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

munity it serves is a major accomplishment by any stan-dards.

There is too the list of achievements – the setting up ofthe Pringle Commission and the Legal Aid Act, the supportgiven to people in the courts and the tribunals, the adviceservices, the education programmes, the setting up ofcommunity law centres, valuable research papers, tirelesscontribution to the debate on law reform, the tirelessfundraising and the readiness to meet new and emergingneeds. Born in a period of recession, it now faces anoth-er.

I suppose the optimistic impulse at the start was to fill thebreach until the state responded to campaigning andestablished a properly staffed and funded system for deliv-ering legal aid and advice for those who could not other-wise afford it, and which would meet all their needs.

The trouble with tackling social need is that once a prob-lem is solved, there is often another more basic needbehind it. Need is infinite while resources both of moneyand people are necessarily limited. It was the same withthe setting up of the British National Health Service, oneof the great artefacts of modern social policy anywhere inthe world. It was founded on the assumption that therewas a fixed quantum of disease, a legacy of past povertyand occupational diseases, and when that had been dealtwith, costs actually decline. The truth, of course, was theopposite, as uncovered needs increased exponentially, ashave the costs, as demands outstrip supply and few hadgiven thought to mental health problems or psychoso-matic disease, the diseases of ageing or a more affluentlifestyle and the yet to emerge scourges of AIDS, and now,shortly obesity.

It is a warning to all who begin to tackle deprivation orneed in any of the social services – that need is endless,that expectations rise continually in line with improvingstandards in the wider community, that the concept of rel-ative deprivation present an ever moving target, that newneeds emerge, and new methods and new technologiesmake possible the treatment or amelioration of condi-tions which were regarded as inevitable or intractable inthe past.

So the pioneers of FLAC, like the Argonauts, having puttheir hands to the oars and headed out into unchartedseas to a visionary landfall, find themselves lashed to theoars of a trireme battling towards a utopian destinationwhich, by definition, can never be reached. Although theperformance has been impressive, much remains to bedone, and there are painful gaps in the social fabric as sur-veys and successive annual reports show only too clearly.

F L A C N E W S l O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 99

AAcccceessss ttoo JJuussttiiccee


Attendees at the lecture in the President’s Hall of the Law Society.Pictured in the first row are members of Dave Ellis’ family.

Journalist and broadcaster Colin Murphy who launched FLAC’sonline archive on the night of the lecture.

Dr Maurice Hayes with Sarah Flynn (R), wife of Dave Ellis, andStatia Crickley, campaigner and friend to Dave Ellis.

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



DDeebbtt--rreellaatteedd qquueerriieess ttooFFLLAACC rriissiinngg iinn tthhiirrdd qquuaarrtteerr

2009 was another busy year in theFLAC centres and on our tele-phone information line.The num-

ber of calls received by FLAC’s tele-phone information line increased again inthe third quarter of 2009 to 2,636 calls,which was more than in the same quar-ter of 2008. July was the busiest monthof the year so far both on the phonelines and in the centres. Despite slowingdown in August the number of callsincreased again in September.

Family law remains the most frequentarea of enquiry both on the telephoneinformation line and in the centres, fol-lowed by legal services, civil matters andemployment law. So far 2009 has seen arise in debt related queries, criminal lawqueries, wills, and queries regarding legalaid and legal services. Calls relating toconsumer law and solicitor client issueshave fallen over the last nine months.

The number of debt-related queries onthe phone line rose from 102 in the firstquarter of 2009 to 158 in the third quar-ter. The increase is striking when com-pared with last year’s figures.There were45 debt related calls in the third quarter

of 2008, accounting for 1.8 percent ofcalls. There were three and a half timesmore debt related calls in the samequarter of 2009, accounting for 6 per-cent of all calls to the phone-line duringthat quarter. It is also worth noting thatlength of debt related calls would alsohave increased with the severity of theproblems in this area.

There has been a similar pattern in thecentres, the number of debt related

queries in the third quar-ter of 2009 was doublethat in the third quarterof 2008. However, whilethe number of queriesdoubled, as a percentagedebt related queriesaccounted for only 2.8percent of all queriesbrought to the centres inQ3 2009, compared to3.1 percent in Q3 2008.

Of the 405 debt related calls to FLAC’stelephone information line so far thisyear, 96 callers have been referred on toMABS for further advice and assistance.161 of these callers were advised toattend a FLAC centre, which may high-light a future need for a specialist creditand debt legal advice service.

Of the 377 peoplewho called to a FLACcentre with a debt-related querybetween January andSeptember of thisyear, more werereferred to MABS(76) than to the LegalAid Board (69).

However, 93 callers to a FLACcentre during this period werereferred to a private solicitor, eventhough they had approached thecentre with a credit and debtrelated query.

Eight organisations in the UK(AdviceUK, General Councilof the Bar, ILEX, JUSTICE, Law

Centres Federation, Legal ActionGroup, Legal Aid Practitioners Group,Liberty) have collaborated to launcha new Manifesto for Justice on 7December 2009.

The manifesto sets out three princi-ples of justice: good governance andthe rule of law; respect for humanrights and civil liberties; and access tojustice. It describes an accessible jus-tice system as the “hallmark of a free,just and democratic society”.

Among its recommendations are: co-ordinated and properly funded legaleducation; adequately funded civillegal advice; and co-ordination on theprovision of advice and representa-tion on social welfare law. It urgesthat funding be made available forcommunities without advice agenciesor solicitors to prevent such areasremaining “advice deserts”.

The manifesto concludes by empha-sising the importance of diversity inthe legal profession. It states that thejudiciary ought to be “representativeof the public and the communitiesthey serve” by ensuring that it isopen to competent persons from allparts of the legal profession.

UUKK MMaanniiffeessttooffoorr JJuussttiiccee

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FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



PILA held its first seminar entitled,Using human rights law for clients:comparing the British and Irish

experiences on 16 October 2009. Theseminar was very well attended, attract-ing around 70 people from the Bar, pri-vate practice and the voluntary sector.

The speaker was Kevin Kerrigan,Associate Dean of the School of Law atthe University of Northumbria inNewcastle, practising solicitor and co-author of Advocacy and Human Rights:Using the Convention in Courts and Tribunals.

Kevin discussed the structure of theHuman Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and theimpact which it has had to date. Hetalked through a series of recent HRAdecisions and led an interesting discus-sion as to whether similar issues arose inIrish law.

A summary of the discussion will beavailable on PILA’s website at

http://www.pila.ie/

Earlier that day, Mr Kerrigan alsoaddressed attendees at a roundtable onClinical Legal Education, hosted by PILA,

which included representatives fromthird level institutions nationally and thelegal professional bodies.

PPIILLAA rruunnss sseemmiinnaarr oonn hhuummaann rriigghhttss llaaww

Pictured above (L-R) are PILA Legal Officer Jo Kenny, Kevin Kerrigan of theUniversity of Northumbria and Tony O’Riordan, PILA Manager.

NNeeww ffaammiillyy llaaww cceennttrree ttoo ooppeenn iinn OOnnee FFaammiillyy

One Family, the national organ-isation which supports one-parent families, operates an

information service calledAskonefamily*. This includes a helplinethat regularly receives calls from peo-ple with Family Law queries.These cancover areas such as access, guardian-ship and maintenance.

In fact, legal queries form one of thelargest categories of enquiries fromtheir helpline callers, second only tosocial welfare questions.

Previously, One Family have helpedthese people with legal queries indi-rectly by referring them to appropriatespecialist services such as FLAC.However, this service has now expand-ed with the announcement that OneFamily will be hosting a specialist FLACfamily law centre.

Starting on 12 January 2010, OneFamily will host a FLAC centre inCherish House in Dublin 2.The centrewill run once a month in the eveningsfrom 5.30 to 7.30pm and it will oper-ate on an appointment-only basis. Alegally trained and experienced FLACvolunteer will be available to give legaladvice on family law matters.

These FLAC volunteer lawyers canhelp establish whether or not there isa legal solution to the caller’s issue,explain what options are open to himor her and refer to other services toobtain further assistance where appro-priate.

8 Appointments at these freeevenings are available by callingOne Family on 01 662 9212.

8 Check the website at www.one-family.ie

8 The helpline is at 1890 66 22 12. Phot

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One

Fam

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FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



Noeline Blackwell began her legalcareer as a law student volun-teering in FLAC’s advice cen-

tres. Now, with an extensive and variedbackground in human rights and legalpractice, she has come full-circle, return-ing to FLAC as Director General in 2005.She is responsible for overseeing FLAC’soperations and driving forward FLAC’sagenda.

Starting out as an apprentice in a countrypractice in County Tipperary, Noeline wasdetermined to set off for Dublin as soonas she qualified. She recalls “My boss said‘wait to go until I actually knew some-thing’”. A compromise was reached thatshe would stay for one year, which endedup being eight or nine years. She foundthe great variety of work kept her inter-ested and particularly enjoyed the sense ofcollegiality and working in the community.

After working briefly as a taxation lawyerin Kildare, Noeline finally made the moveto Dublin and set up her own practice inDrumcondra. Involvement with AmnestyInternational (Irish Section) led her to fur-ther roles in Human Rights organisationsincluding Immigrant Council of Irelandand Frontline. Her firm worked exten-sively with refugees and she was also onthe Law Society’s Family Law & Civil LegalAid Committee and its EuropeanConvention of Human Rights Task Force.

Noeline had first encountered FLAC as alaw student in the 70s.At the time,FLAC’sadvice centres were staffed by studentsand she had been based in the Finglas cen-tre. Noeline is delighted to be workingwith FLAC again, this time as DirectorGeneral. “Honest to goodness, it is thebest job in the country” says Noeline.“Every day is a highlight.”

As Director General,Noeline is responsi-ble for implementing the plan of actionset by the board every five years. In thisway, she is charged with taking forwardFLAC’s ambitions and achieving FLAC’score mission of improving Access toJustice.She admits,“It has the advantage ofa wide and varied job description”. On aday-to-day basis, she coordinates andoversees all aspects of FLAC’s work,mak-

ing sure projects are driven forward. Sheis also the public face of FLAC, promotingthe organisation’s message: “Some days Icould be talking to politicians, people inthe media, colleagues in the legal profes-sion, preparing something for our volun-teers...”

For Noeline, the continuing highlights ofher work are the people she gets to meet,not just in the office, but also colleagues inthe law centres and other NGOs.Noelinerecalls having the opportunity of getting toknow the late Dave Ellis: “You didn’t haveto explain Public Interest Law to someoneif you said ‘Dave Ellis is a Public InterestLawyer’, because they would know exact-ly what you were talking about. Daveunderstood that law was part of societyand the importance of working with thelaw to accomplish social change.”

Noeline hopes that Dave Ellis would bepleased with the establishment of PILAand the opportunities it represents forgreater cooperation among civil societygroups and the promotion of public inter-est law.

Other highlights for her include MichaelFarrell’s success in the Foy case, achievingthe first ever declaration of incompatibili-

ty with the ECHR in the Irish courts.“After all the years Lydia Foy put in, it isgreat to see her rights vindicated in theend.”

Also, despite the misery and hardship ofthe recession, Noeline takes satisfactionin seeing Paul Joyce’s decade of work hit-ting the right spot and his analysis andsolutions setting the agenda on personaldebt.

Major events aside,Noeline finds the littlethings can be the best part of FLAC’swork. “The leaflet we issue that no oneelse has, the phone call that no one else isthere to answer... these are all mini-victo-ries that give me huge satisfaction.”

Into the future, Noeline hopes FLAC candevelop a better understanding amonglobbyists and decision makers that law isan integral part of how our society oper-ates and that a space for law in the publicinterest should be respected. For her,FLAC’s work is about “making it easier forpeople who currently can’t make theircase because of blocks in the system orbecause they don’t know how to dealwith power and authority.” Most of all,Noeline hopes that FLAC continues “todo what we have been doing,even better.”

NNooeelliinnee BBllaacckkwweellllSSoolliicciittoorr && FFLLAACC DDiirreeccttoorr GGeenneerraall

FFooccuuss oonn FFLLAACC::

Phot

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Der

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peirs

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



The FLAC centre in UniversityCollege Cork runs clinics everyWednesday in the student centre

on the third floor.These clinics are staffedby students and practicing solicitors andbarristers on a rotational basis. Over thelast three years, UCC FLAC has seendemand for its services triple and is a veryuseful help to the students of the univer-sity.

The main issues dealt with are landlordand tenant law, minor public orderoffences and employment law. The workdone by UCC FLAC was recognised lastyear by the Societies Guild with a nomi-nation for best Charitable Society. UCCFLAC works closely with the StudentsUnion and the Accommodations office to

ensure that students’ legal rights areupheld on campus.

The centre also provides training semi-nars for law students interested in givingadvice. Training seminars have includedlandlord and tenant law and also publicorder offences looking at, in particular theIntoxicating Liquor Act 2008, knowledgeof which comes in useful after “RagWeek”.

Last year, the centre held a very interest-ing seminar series on such topics as ‘CivilLegal Aid and Public Interest Law’, ‘WhatRights Should Children Have?Constitutional Amendment on Children’sRights’, ‘The Shadow Report on Ireland’sHuman Rights Record’ and the proposed

Civil Partnership Bill.All of these seminarswere huge successes, resulting in livelydiscussion on campus.

UCC FLAC ran many other activities lastyear including campaigning on campus forthe reinstatement of universal child bene-fit (ended by the government in 2004 bythe introduction of the HabitualResidence Condition). The society alsoheld a campaign showing our support forthe Equality & Rights Alliance, attended byLabour TD Kathleen Lynch. In 2009, UCCFLAC held a seminar on The Future ofChild Protection in Ireland in the Light of theRyan Report with Nora Gibbons (Directorof Advocacy at Bernardos),Maria Corbett(Policy Director for the Children's RightsAlliance) and Kieran Walsh BL.

LLeeggaall aaiidd ffoorr ssttuuddeennttss!!FFLLAACC cceennttrreess aatt uunniivveerrssiittiieess iinn IIrreellaanndd

IInnssiiddee tthhee CCeennttrree::TThhee FFrreeee LLeeggaall AAddvviiccee CCeennttrree @@ UUnniivveerrssiittyy CCoolllleeggee CCoorrkk

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There are currently three studentFLAC societies: UCC FLAC, TrinityFLAC and the recently establishedNUIG FLAC.

UCC FLAC: UCC FLAC has been inexistence for a number of years. Its mainpurpose is to operate advice clinicswhere students can receive once-off legaladvice from qualified practitioners. Themain areas of law for students attendingthe clinics in UCC are around tenants’legal rights & responsibilities, public orderissues, consumer information andemployment law.These legal advice clinicstake place every Wednesday and there arethree volunteer legal practitionersinvolved. As well as the advice centres,UCC FLAC is involved in organising andarranging information and training semi-nars on various legal topics.The main aimhere is to provide students with practicallegal information. In addition, UCC FLACruns an annual essay competition for lawstudents on a specific legal topic. It alsoengages with campaigns run by FLAChead office. (See below for more informationon UCC FLAC.)

Trinity FLAC: As with UCC FLAC, themain objective of the FLAC society in

T r i n i t yC o l l e g eDublin is tooperate legaladvice clinics,where legalpractitionerspass onadvice andinformationto students.The studentsinvolved withthe society inTrinity areresponsiblefor schedulingthe volunteer practitioners to attend atthese clinics. The clinics take place on aTuesday evening every 2 to 3 weeks in theAtrium in Trinity. The most prevalentareas of law on which TCD students seekadvice are employment law and landlord& tenancy law.The society is also involvedin organising legal information seminarsand in FLAC’s general campaigns.

NUIG FLAC: This year saw the birth ofa new FLAC society in NUI Galway. Atpresent this society is still in its formativestages and hopes to start operating advice

clinics in the New Year. Despite this, thesociety and committee involved havebeen very industrious, having to dateencouraged over thirty students to getinvolved with FLAC and also having locat-ed volunteer practitioners to attend atthe advice clinics. In addition the commit-tee have co-ordinated with the LawSociety in NUI Galway in organising andrunning debates and information semi-nars. The student committee envisagesthe official launch of FLAC NUIG for 18January 2010 and the opening of theadvice clinics that week.

Members of NUIG and Trinity FLAC societies attending the recentDave Ellis Memorial Lecture. Kathrina Bray, FLAC Legal Intern is on

the far left.

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

Ireland and Washington, aside fromsharing an unfortunate propensityfor rain, also have similar per capita

incomes, unemployment numbers, andestimated homelessness rates. There isan amplified need for civil legal aid inboth places due to the large quantity ofpeople living around and under thepoverty levels, and based on a needsstudy conducted in Washington in 2003,over 76% of these low income house-holds had experienced at least one legalproblem during the previous year.

Consider one such household: Jessica isa victim of domestic violence who justrecently decided to divorce her hus-band and is now facing two very signifi-cant legal problems. First, her husbandhas hired a lawyer to fight for custodyof their two young children. Second, asa result of her husband coming to herapartment and causing disturbances, herneighbors complained and her landlordbrought proceedings to evict her andher children. Jessica has a tremendousamount at risk, her children and herhome, but no income aside fromGovernment benefits and therefore no

means to hire a lawyer. She is just likethe thousands of people in Ireland andWashington State who need helpaccessing largely inaccessible court sys-tems to protect their rights. If Jessicawere to try and get legal aid in bothWashington and Ireland, she would findfairly different structures and standardsfor administering legal aid. However,she would also find that in both placesher chance of getting the help sheneeds depends entirely on factors outof her control.

Ireland has attempted to address theproblems of people like Jessica by estab-lishing the Legal Aid Board, a statutorybody responsible for the provision oflegal aid and advice on civil law mattersto persons unable to fund such servicesfrom their own resources. Its generalservice operates through 89 solicitorsworking at 29 full-time and 12 part-timelaw centres around the country.

In addition to the Legal Aid Board, avariety of independent law centres haveemerged to help low income and disen-franchised individuals in Irish society

who haveprob lemsthat theLegal AidBoard can-not or willnot helpthem with.

The vastmajority ofthe workfunded bythe Boardis in thearea offamily law,and manypeople aretherefore

left without representation for theirproblems related to housing, benefits,immigration, and associated issues.Instead of establishing one statutorybody like the Legal Aid Board to pro-vide civil legal services, the WashingtonSupreme Court created the Access toJustice Board, which is charged with theplanning and oversight of a network ofstatewide, integrated civil legal servicesproviders. This network consists oftwo wide-ranging service providers,Northwest Justice Project (NJP) andColumbia Legal Services. Some exam-ples of boutique programs are“Teamchild,” which represents youthwho are involved in the criminal justicesystem in civil matters, and “SolidGround,” which deals primarily withcases involving public benefits.

In addition to having different basicstructures, civil legal aid programs inIreland and Washington also have dis-similar standards and procedures fortaking on cases. In examining whetheror not to take cases like Jessica’s, theLegal Aid Board would uses a meanstest and a merits test to evaluate hereligibility for aid. The means testrequires the individual seeking aid tohave a disposable income of less than

€18,000 per year before their claim willbe considered. It allows for certaindeductions for income tax, PRSI,dependents, rent/mortgage repayments,and childcare expenses.The merits testhas two parts; the Board must find as amatter of law that a reasonably prudentperson would be likely to pursue theclaim at their own expense if possible,and that a reasonable solicitor or bar-rister would be likely to advise theclient to obtain legal services at his orher own expense.The test is very sub-jective and the department has neverissued examples of a case refused onthe merits, therefore it is difficult for



TTrraannssllaattiinngg lleeggaall nneeeeddss iinnttoo LLeeggaall AAiidd::

Kristine Duncan was the recipient of the 2008 William Sampson Fellowship, jointly organised by FLAC andthe University of Washington, Seattle. She spent her time with FLAC as a legal intern researching Irish debtlaws and working on a joint community law centres Social Welfare Casebase. Below she compares theeffectiveness and provision of civil legal aid systems in Washington State, USA and Ireland.

Comparing legal aid in Seattle...

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04



someone like Jessica to know if theirclaim was wrongly rejected under themerits test.

A person who has been turned downmay appeal internally to the Appealscommittee, but the Legal Aid Board isnot susceptible to scrutiny by the Officeof the Ombudsman. The scope of thework done by the Board is extremelynarrow, with over 90% of the court rep-resentation being for family law cases,so Jessica is much more likely to getassistance with her custody matter thanthe eviction if she is in Ireland. In fact,help with housing issues falls into one ofthe categories of legal issues the Boardis prohibited from working on (disputesconcerning rights and interests in orover land) and she would thereforehave to look to one of the independentlaw centres for help with the evictionclaim.

The tests that organizations inWashington use to determine whetheror not someone is eligible for servicesare less stringent. Northwest JusticeProject (NJP) has the strictest testbecause it receives federal funding fromthe Legal Services Commission (LSC)and must conform to their require-ments. Its means test requires theapplicant to be below the governmentcut off of 200% of the Federal povertylevel, which is $21,660 for a single per-son this year. This includes any assetsexcept for the home that the personlives in. Like the Legal Aid board, NJP isprohibited from taking cases that fall into a number of categories, such as classactions, cases involving non-citizens(unless they are victims of domesticviolence) and any fee-generating cases.

If, however, the applicant has two pri-vate attorneys who testify that theyturned the case down first, they may lit-igate a fee-generating case. This is onekey difference between the Legal AidBoard and NJP, where NJP is actuallyforbidden from accepting payment orgetting attorney’s fees for their work,the Board requires the client to pay for

court costsmuch of thetime, andrequire incomecontr ibut ionsanywhere from

€35 to €2,210.

NJP has differ-ent practicegroups for dif-ferent areas oflaw, such as fam-ily law, housing,public benefits,consumer, edu-cation, andsome immigra-tion.

If Jessica qualifies financially and thecase does not involve a prohibited areaof law, the intake attorney will look tosee if the case is a priority area fortheir practice group.They do not applyany sort of merits test, but each prac-tice group has cases that they will con-sider priorities, for instance domesticviolence cases will be given priority inthe family law group. There is not astrict order in which cases will betaken, however, and even priority casesmay be denied if all of the attorneyshave full caseloads.

Certain practice groups have longerwait lines than others, for instance fam-ily law has a notoriously long waitinglist, but the housing group hardly everdoes. Even though her case is a prior-ity area for the family law group, she willstill be subject to the wait time andwould be likely to get help with theeviction from NJP long before the cus-tody matter. If she was turned awayfrom Northwest Justice Projectbecause of the restrictions put on theLSC funding, for instance if she was anon-U.S. citizen or if she was trying tobring a class action suit, it would be pos-sible for to her to secure legal servicesfrom the other big civil legal aidprovider in Washington, Columbia LegalServices (CLS). CLS does not receive

any money from LSC, so they

can take cases that NJP cannot, howev-er their focus is strategic litigation, sothey would also be more likely to takethe housing case (for the impact onfuture proceedings involving domesticviolence victims) than the custody case.

The civil legal aid programs in Irelandand Washington differ structurally andprocedurally, yet Jessica would havemuch more trouble getting representa-tion for one claim over than the otherregardless of where she was; in Ireland itwould be housing, in Washington itwould be the custody battle. Bothinvolve vitally important rights, and nei-ther is fully protected in either State. Inthe end, whether or not Jessica wouldbe able to defend her fundamental rightswould depend on circumstances com-pletely out of her control, such as waittimes, what a given solicitor felt abouther case merits, or where her legal issuefell on the priority list. Neither systementirely protects the rights of its low-income and disenfranchised individualsby ensuring that those individuals arenot denied the opportunity to presenttheir cases effectively before the court,even though such effective representa-tion is, as the European Court of HumanRights recognized in Airey v. Ireland, cen-tral to the concept of a fair trial.

CCiivviill LLeeggaall AAiidd iinn IIrreellaanndd && WWaasshhiinnggttoonn

...and Dublin

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

FFLLAACC ooppeenn lleetttteerr ttoo lleeggiissllaattoorrss:: IImmmmeeddiiaattee aaccttiioonn nneeeeddeedd oonn mmoorrttggaaggee aarrrreeaarrss ccrriissiiss



MMaakkiinngg aacccceessss ttoo jjuussttiiccee ppoossssiibbllee

On 15 October 2009 FLACissued an open letter to allTDs and Senators. The letter

called for immediate action on thegrowing mortgage arrears crisis facingvulnerable families throughout thenation.

FLAC’s information line has been del-uged with calls from people in mortgagearrears, desperate for help.The govern-ment has responded to the problemwith the Protocol on Consumer Debtand the Financial Regulator’s Code ofConduct on mortgage arrears, yet thesemeasures have no legally binding powerand do not provide full solutions to theproblem.

With forecasts predicting the number ofmortgage holders in negative equity toreach 350,000 by the end of 2010, thiscrisis will only worsen in the comingmonths.Thus FLAC decided to contactlegislators directly, asking them to takeimmediate action and consider intro-ducing measures to help those in need:expanded money and legal advice; capac-ity to remodel and revise existing loans,and moratoriums where appropriate.

The letter provoked positive responses

from across thepolitical spectrum,with messages ofsupport from allopposition partiesand some inde-pendent represen-tatives.

There was evensupport from somegovernment partymembers, pointingto commitments inthe revisedProgramme forGovernment thataction would soonbe taken action onthe issue.

FLAC welcomedthese strong state-ments of supportand hopes thatwords would trans-late into action inthe immediatefuture so as to helpmortgage holdersin crisis before it istoo late.

FLAC has been working for equal access to justice for all people in Ireland since it was set up in1969. Forty years later, we are still campaigning, researching and providing practical help to peopleall over the country. In 2008, FLAC answered some 9,500 queries over its telephone helpline andprovided free legal advice to around 7,500 people via its centres around the country.

The current economic climate means increased strain on FLAC’s workload. If you would like to helpFLAC continue its work promoting equal access to justice for all, please consider making a donation to the organisation.

You can help FLAC by:8 Sending a cheque/postal order with your details to FLAC, 13 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin 18 Logging on to www.flac.ie and following the link to www.mycharity.ie8 Making a credit/laser card donation by completing and returning the donation form below:

Name: .............................................................................................................................. Amount: € ...........................

Address: ..............................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................

Card number:

Please debit my: Visa Mastercard Laser

Expiry date: | CSV:

I am : a PAYE taxpayera non-PAYE taxpayer

If you are a PAYE-only taxpayer, a gift of €250 or more could beworth up to an extra 72% to us!

FLAC News 19_4 Oct-Dec09 07/01/2010 15:04

flacnews vol19no4

Documents

f r e e

c e c e n t r e sfounded

o c t o b e r d e c

c n e w s

issuing flac news

flac open letter

flavour ofwhat flac

translating legal need