Dearth of legal aid in housing disputes 'felt most by socially excluded communities'
Mary Heavey, the housing solicitor with CLM, said: 'Travellers are disproportionately impacted by the absence of legal aid in disputes concerning land.' File picture: Larry Cummins
The State has been urged to reform and expand Ireland's civil legal aid system to help Travellers in housing cases.
The call came from two free legal advice groups which appeared before the joint Oireachtas committee on issues affecting the Traveller community on Thursday morning.
The Community Law and Mediation (CLM) group said because Travellers find it difficult to access housing legal advice, some have been left to sleep in cars or tents, or grossly unsuitable accommodation.
Mary Heavey, the housing solicitor with CLM, an independent community law centre and charity which provides free legal, mediation and education services to minority groups, said it sees “a huge unmet legal need” for advice and representation to Travellers, particularly in relation to accommodation. Last year, it established a dedicated free legal advice clinic for Travellers who are experiencing accommodation problems.
She said the key issues which have emerged at their outreach clinics include:
- the failure of local authorities to provide access to emergency accommodation, leaving some Travellers sleeping in cars, tents or in dangerously overcrowded or grossly unsuitable living conditions;
- the failure of local authorities to provide Traveller-specific accommodation, and inadequate standards of Traveller-specific housing;
- a lack of transparency and consistency in decision-making of local authorities, with some incorrectly applying social housing support eligibility criteria to accessing emergency accommodation;
- a lack of fair procedures in how certain local authorities carry out garda vetting of social housing applicants.
She described the current Civil Legal Aid Scheme as severely outdated.
“For example, under the scheme, it is very difficult to access legal aid in housing and homeless cases,” she said. “Legal aid is generally unavailable in housing disputes, subject to a limited exception.
“In our experience, there is a fundamental lack of clarity as to the availability of civil legal aid in housing law matters such as access to social housing supports or emergency accommodation."
She said that has resulted in a huge unmet legal need in the area of housing, which is felt most acutely by vulnerable and socially excluded communities and those most acutely impacted by the ongoing housing crisis.
“Travellers are disproportionately impacted by the absence of legal aid in disputes concerning land.
The scheme has been under review by the Department of Justice for over a year, and CLM called for the immediate publication of the review.
Sinéad Lucey, the managing solicitor with FLAC, the network of Free Legal Advice Centres, told the committee it is disappointing that there has been no meaningful legal changes in the areas of Traveller accommodation or equality law since their last appearance before the committee in 2021.
“This is despite the introduction of the Housing For All plan, the establishment of the Housing Commission, a Government commitment to a referendum on housing, the initiation of a comprehensive review of the equality legislation, and the development of a landmark Planning and Development Bill."
