The need for access to justice for all has not diminished

FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centre, was founded 50 years ago by four law students. Its role in society is as integral as ever, says Eilis Barry.

Fifty years ago the world was ablaze with radical new ideas, with civil rights movements in America and Northern Ireland, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, student revolts in Paris, and massive demonstrations against the Vietnam War in Britain, Europe, and the US.

While lawyers are not generally associated with marches, protests, and radical movements, in 1969 four law students — David Byrne, later attorney general and EU commissioner; Vivian Lavan, future High Court judge, who died in 2011; Denis McCullough, future senior counsel; and Ian Candy, later a magistrate in Hong Kong — came together and founded one of Ireland’s first civil and human rights organisations, FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centres.

While the initial aim was to provide legal aid for people who cannot afford it, the long-term aim was to persuade the Government to establish a comprehensive scheme of civil legal aid.

Half a century ago, family law was the main area of unmet need and still dominates the queries to the FLAC information line and advice clinics today. Last year, FLAC dealt with more than 25,000 requests for legal information and advice from its telephone information line and the nationwide network of legal advice clinics.

There are now 66 FLAC legal advice clinics around Ireland, mainly based in and facilitated by the Citizens Information Services and with the commitment of almost 600 volunteer lawyers.

FLAC, as an independent law centre, takes a small number of cases in the public interest and runs a legal clinic for the Roma community. While housing and homelessness dominate the cases taken by FLAC, new issues such as privacy are emerging, which are difficult to enforce on an individual basis.

Through FLAC’s public interest law project, PILA, community groups and NGOs are provided with legal assistance by private lawyers acting on a pro-bono basis. The most notable example of this was when the High Court vindicated the right to a secret ballot for people with a visual impairment in Sinnott v the Minister for the Environment, where Eversheds Sutherland provided representation to Mr Sinnott.

FLAC is still campaigning to see improvements to the State legal aid scheme, including improvements to the strict means test; the levels of contributions that are required to be paid; decreased waiting times; and improvement to the allowances that just do not reflect the cost of accommodation or childcare.

In 2017, we had a small but significant victory when the Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, abolished the financial requirement for civil legal aid for domestic violence orders in the district court.

However, there is still no legal aid available in certain areas of law, for example there is no legal aid available for a claim of sexual harassment or employment claims. FLAC recently drafted an amendment to the Legal Aid Act which, if enacted, would help to ensure that legal aid is provided for people facing eviction from their family home.

Access to justice was, and is, what FLAC is about. At an individual level, it enables people to know what their rights are and to enforce them. It is a gateway to other rights in areas such as housing and social welfare.

On a societal level, access to justice contributes to social inclusion for marginalised communities and individuals who experience legal problems in areas of debt, accessing social welfare, housing/homelessness services, and unemployment.

Providing a legal solution in one area, such as homelessness, may have a positive knock-on effect on the other problems, such as employment.

Access to justice may not sound very radical but it is fundamental to democracy and the rule of law. It involves more than access to legal aid and includes access to the courts and effective remedies.

There is a striking juxtaposition between the initiative to make Irish courts a welcome centre for international commercial dispute resolution post-Brexit, and the concern expressed by immigration lawyers that the recent direction issued by the High Court may make it harder for migrants to bring cases.

The courts are unlike any other public service and need to be treated as essential to democracy. A crucial part of the role of courts is to ensure that the laws made by the Oireachtas are applied and enforced. Courts have an important role in holding the executive and other forms of power to account.

For the courts to perform that role, people must have unimpeded access to them. Without such access, laws made by democratically elected representatives are liable to have less or no effect. The important new provisions in the domestic violence legislation are effective only if they are enforceable.

It is vital that any initiative to make Ireland a centre of excellence for commercial dispute resolution will help to improve access to justice for everyone. This is why the current review of the Administration of Civil Justice is so important, as it provides a major opportunity to improve access to justice, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and groups.

FLAC made submissions to this review with recommendations on making the courts more accessible for people with disabilities, lay litigants, and to make it easier to bring cases in the public interest.

Fifty years on, the need for access to justice has not diminished. FLAC will continue to campaign for access to justice from our new office at 85/86 Dorset St Upper, thanks to the generous support of Atlantic Philanthropies.

Eilis Barry is chief executive of FLAC