Indomitable lady at rest

The death has taken place of Josie Airey, a courageous woman who by indefatigable tenacity and determination forced an Irish government to introduce free legal aid in matters relating to family law.

An ordinary woman, she achieved an extraordinary accomplishment in suing an Irish Government before the European Court of Human Rights, thereby establishing for the first time a fundamental legal right.

She blazed a legal trail which opened the way for thousands of others locked into a bad marriage and who wanted a legal exit from it, but who were unable to afford it.

In endeavouring to extricate herself from a violent marriage back in the early Seventies, this indomitable woman challenged the bastions of the establishment, such as the Catholic Church, the political system and the legal fraternity, without avail.

Despite apparently insurmountable barriers, she persevered in pursuing the Government for violating an Article in the 1950 Convention on Human Rights which guaranteed citizens the right to legal aid in civil cases.

Her action against the State was predicated on its failure to provide a cheap, effective and accessible remedy of judicial separation, which was an interference with the rights to respect for family life and the home. Secondly, she charged the Government with discrimination against those without means.

Eventually, her lone battle was taken on by former President Mary Robinson, who was then a Senator and a constitutional lawyer, and who is now the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

That battle seemed over when the European Commission on Human Rights decided in her favour in 1977.

However, even then, the Government, led by the late Jack Lynch, did not introduce civil legal aid and she was forced to go to the European Court to oblige the Government to do so.

When she was laid to rest yesterday, she left behind a legacy which countless thousands have already benefited from and others will continue to do so into the future.