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flacNewsI S S N 0 7 9 1 4 1 4 8 l V O L u M E 2 2 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 1 2

F r e e L e g a L a d v i c e c e n t r e s

Social welfare appeals system isNot Fair Enough - FLAC report

FLAC’s latest report, Not FairEnough: making the case fo rrefo rm o f the so cial welfare

appeals system, was unveiled on 24October in the Mansion House. Launchingthe report, Ombudsman Emily O’Reillycongratulated FLAC, saying it provided “astrong and persuasive case for the reformof the social welfare appeals system.”

The report sets out the operation of theSocial Welfare Appeals Office in thecontext of the recession, where theAppeals Office's workload has more thandoubled since 2007 creating even greaterchallenges for an already hard-pressedsystem. FLAC has analysed the appealssystem from a human rights perspectiveusing both national and international law.It finds that the appeals process fallsbelow the standards required to ensurethat fair procedures are followed and toguarantee an effective remedy. The reportcontains different perspectives on theappeals system, including the views of theChief Appeals Officer and of advocateswho represent appellants.

FLAC’s Noeline Blackwell chaired thelaunch while Policy and Advocacy OfficerSaoirse Brady presented an overview ofthe report's findings and recom -mendations. Geraldine Gleeson, the ChiefAppeals Officer, welcomed the report andprovided a short response to its findings,detailing how the Appeals Office has madefurther improvements in processing timesand is trying to put in place systems whichwill help make the process more efficient.David Mitchell, a trainee solicitor with theLaw Centre NI gave a short presentationon the operation of the social welfareappeals tribunal in Northern Ireland.Finally, FLAC Senior Solicitor MichaelFarrell closed the launch with a discussion

on how a database of published decisionswould benefit the appeals system as wellas other steps that could be taken toimprove procedures.

Although the Appeals Office is a quasi-judicial tribunal, Not Fair Enough findsthat there is no actual or perceivedindependence as required under Article 6of the European Convention on HumanRights. In fact, the office is a section of theDepartment of Social Protection and itsAppeals Officers are appointed by theMinister without any public recruitmentprocess. Officers do not have to be legallyqualified, they are not appointed for afixed term, there are no terms for theirremoval from office and they can in facttransfer back to another section of the

Department of Social Protection.Following the publication of the report,the Minister stated in the Dáil that whileher department and the Appeals Officeare examining FLAC’s recommendations,there are no plans to put the AppealsOffice on an independent statutoryfooting.

For appellants, there is no equality of armsor balance between the parties as statecivil legal aid is not available forrepresentation at any tribunal other thanthe Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Appellantsdo not even have all of the informationcontained in their social welfare file madeavailable to them in advance of a decision

C ontinued on page 6

At the launch of ‘Not Fair Enough (L-R): Noeline Blackwell, FLAC Director General; EmilyO’Reilly, Ombudsman; Michael Farrell, FLAC Senior Solicitor; and Saoirse Brady, FLAC

Policy & Advocacy Officer and author of the report

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FLAC News Winter 12_13 Printwell_FLAC05 vol15no4 16/01/2013 11:33 Page 1

flac News | Vol. 22, 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 1 2

in this edition...Social welfare appeals system is Not Fair Enough - FLAC report 1 & 6

Budget 2013 does not respect human rights of all 2

Top rights official contacts Minister re delay in Foy case 3

What does FLAC do? 3

Seanad motion on reform of welfare appeals system defeated 4

Insolvency Bill: not just a marathon,but a sprint through Oireachtas 5

Rule of Law project in Malawi 7

Hammarberg delivers Dave EllisMemorial Lecture 8-9

FLAC launches first volunteerrecognition scheme 10

Volunteers needed in Navan 10

Families most under pressure in 2012 11

Child Benefit arrears paid in ‘Zambrano’ case 11

PILA update:European Pro Bono Forum 2012 12

Conference on class actions 12

IBA event showcases legal rights 13

Diary date: Eu Charter on Fundamental Rights seminar 13

Focus on FLAC:Legal interns: Emma Cassidy, AndrewGuy, Anita Howlin, Lorraine Walsh 14

Agency hears Eu-wide concernson access to justice 15

DCu FLAC chair wins award 15

Fellowship applications now open 16

uN Special Rapporteur on HumanRights Defenders visit 16

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

Editors: Noeline Blackwell, EmmaCassidy & Yvonne Woods

Layout & Printing: Printwell Design, D3Contributors: Noeline Blackwell, SaoirseBrady, Emer Butler, Emma Cassidy, RuthDowling, Michael Farrell, Andrew Guy,Marianne Hennessy, Anita Howlin, GillianKernan, Eithne Lynch, Lianne Murphy,Maeve Regan, Zsé Varga, Yvonne WoodsPhotos by Derek Speirs & FLAC

ISSN 07914148The views of individual contributors donot necessarily represent the views ofFLAC.

Budget 2013 does notrespect human rights of all

While Budget 2013, announcedon 5 December, brought adisappointing if expected cut

to Child Benefit, it also housed othermeasures attracting widespread criticism,such as the cut to the respite care grantand taxation of Maternity Benefit. TheSocial Welfare Bill 2012 was thenintroduced to implement these changes.Critically, it was guillotined throughwithout proper and adequate discussiondespite opposition calls for a full debate.

With Northside Community Law Centre(NCLC), FLAC issued a submission aroundsection 13 of this Bill, which provides for amore aggressive recovery of welfare over-payments. Our concerns relate to theincrease in the amount of deductions theDepartment of Social Protection can makefrom a person’s weekly social welfarepayment to recover over-payments as itmay push people into destitution.

Currently, the Department can deduct €2from a primary weekly payment of €188,as this brings the recipient down to a levelequivalent to Supplementary WelfareAllowance. This is the rate that the Stateitself has set as a basic minimum income.We fear that the Department can nowrecover up to 15 per cent of a paymentwithout written consent, or even morewith written consent, meaning therecipient would have less than therecognised basic minimum to live on.

An over-payment may arise when theDepartment reviews a claim or when newfacts come to light that show a person wasnot entitled to a payment for a particularperiod. The over-payment may be due to amistake by the recipient or an error by theDepartment. While people cannot appealthe method of recovery, they can appealthe amount of the alleged over-payment,although many may not know where to getinformation or advice on this. In fact, theymay believe they have no choice but toaccept the Department’s decision.However, it is often useful for a recipientto engage with the Department to come toan agreed arrangement which is fair to all.

There was general discussion in the Dáilabout the measure, but no specific debateon either the section itself or amendmentsproposed by the opposition. Joan Burton

TD, Minister for Social Protection,stressed that the measure was intended torecover money which had been paid outfraudulently and said there would be some“leeway” in cases where the over-paymentwas the Department’s fault. However, theBill does not actually differentiate betweenfraudulent over-payments and innocentmistakes, so it is difficult to see how thiswill apply in practice. While this provisionwas guillotined, it will not come into forceuntil the Minister makes a commencementorder in the new year so FLAC hopesthere will still be time for further debateand reflection on it.

The Budget cuts followed calls by NGOs atthe 2013 Pre-Budget Forum in October toprotect Ireland’s most vulnerable groups.Here FLAC emphasised the durability ofIreland’s human rights duties and remindedthe Minister that these provisions arebinding legal obligations underinternational law and not just a matter ofpoverty, as pointed out by uN SpecialRapporteur on Extreme Poverty & HumanRights, Magdalena Sepúlveda.

Specifically, FLAC Policy & AdvocacyOfficer Saoirse Brady focused on the socialwelfare appeals process, Mortgage InterestSupplement and Child Benefit. FLAC’s alsoflagged its concerns in relation to theeligibility changes for Mortgage InterestSupplement Once again, FLAC called onthe Government to carry out thenecessary Poverty Impact Assessmentsbefore making any budgetary decisions.

Minister Burton told those present at theForum, “Looking ahead to the next BudgetI will do my best to ensure that the burdenof resolving the crisis does not falldisproportionately on those who dependon income supports from myDepartment”. However, it seems thepotential impact of all the Bill’s measureson the most poor was not adequatelyconsidered; in fact, there is no evidence ofany impact assessments.

FLAC believes that the regressive changesintroduced by the Social Welfare Bill willexacerbate the already difficult situation ofpeople who rely on social welfare. They fallshort of human rights standards and normswhich must be respected even in times ofrecession – not just in prosperity.

2

See FLAC submission on Budget 2013: bit.ly/prebudget2013

Joint FLAC/NCLC submission on Bill: bit.ly/swbill2012



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 1 2 3

Top rights official contactsMinister re delay in Foy case

Europe’s top human rightsofficial has written toSocial Protection

Minister Joan Burton ‘stronglyencouraging’ her to introducegender recognition legislationwithout delay.

The Council of Europe’s HumanRights Commissioner NilsMuiznieks visited Ireland inOctober and met FLACtransgender client Lydia Foy,who has still not been able toobtain a birth certificate in herfemale gender despite a HighCourt ruling in her favour overfive years ago.

Commissioner Muiznieks thenwrote to Minister Burton inNovember expressing hisconcern that “Ireland does notyet allow for legal recognition oftransgender persons” and that there is notimeline as to when “this long outstandingdraft legislation” will be introduced.

He said that “five years of non-implementation of the High Court’sjudgment finding Ireland in breach of the[European Convention on Human Rights]sends a very negative message to societyat large”. And he added that any newlegislation should not require alreadymarried transgender persons to divorceas a condition of recognition in theiracquired gender.

Minister Burton responded in Decemberand acknowledged that the State now hadan obligation to recognise transgenderpersons. She said legislation on this issuewas a priority for her and for theGovernment but that the timetabledepended on the advice of the AttorneyGeneral, for which they were still waiting.

Mr Muiznieks’ predecessor as Commis -sioner for Human Rights, ThomasHammarberg, also spoke about the Foycase when he delivered FLAC’s annualDave Ellis lecture in Dublin in December.He had strongly supported Lydia Foy andtransgender rights when he wasCommissioner but he said officials inStrasbourg had assumed that gender

recognition legislation would have been inplace by now. He said that such legislation“should be natural in a caring society inwhich human rights for all are a priority”.

In the meantime, representatives ofTransgender Equality Network Ireland(TENI) appeared before the OireachtasJoint Committee on Education and SocialProtection in early December. Theyoutlined the problems faced bytransgender persons in Ireland today andthe importance of legal recognition intheir true gender. The Committeemembers were supportive but they arealso waiting for draft legislation to be sentto them.

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of LydiaFoy’s first application for a new birthcertificate showing her female gender. It isunacceptable that she and other trans -gender persons should have to wait anylonger for recognition of their rights. Andit is unacceptable that no action should betaken more than five years after thecourts issued the first ever declarationthat Irish law is incompatible with theEuropean Convention on Human Rights.It now appears that Lydia Foy will have nooption but to return to the Courts toseek to enforce the decision made in herfavour over five years ago.

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CPresident Michael D. Higgins gave a warm welcome to Lydia Foy when he gave the Irish Human Rights Commission’s annual Human Rights lecture on International Human Rights Day, 10 December.

What does FLAC do?

FLAC is an independent legal rightsorganisation which exists to promoteequal access to justice for all. Fromover 40 years of campaig ning, weknow that many people cannot affordto access the legal help that theyneed to manage their affairs. We alsoknow that some areas of law needurgent change to improve access tojustice for the most vulnerablegroups in society.

While we are no substitute forproperly state-funded legal aid and atruly accessible justice system, wetry to bridge the gap. FLAC offersindependent, confidential legal helpto the public with no fees and nomeans test.

We also prioritise particular areas oflaw for reform through legalresearch, analysis and policy work.This also involves campaigning onsome priority issues and takingstrategic cases to advance law in thepublic interest.

Basic legal help is available fromFLAC in three ways:

4 By phone: lo-call 1890 350 250

4 In person: one-on-oneinformation & advice from avolunteer lawyer at your localFLAC centre – see a full list atwww.flac.ie/gethelp.

4 Online: visit www.flac.ie/gethelp for basic legal guidesand FLACsheets.

For information to download, seeour website at www.flac.ie/gethelp.

FLAC supports advisors in MABSand Citizens Information Centres onits priority areas of law (consumerdebt and credit law, social welfarelaw and access to civil legal aid).

In addition, FLAC's public interestlaw project, PILA, works withvoluntary organisations and lawcentres (rather than directly withindividuals) to promote the use oflaw in the public interest - seewww.pila.ie for more.


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 1 24


Seanad motion on reform ofwelfare appeals system defeated

Hot on the heels of our reportlaunch on the social welfareappeals system, a group of

Independent Senators put down a motionin the Seanad on 7 November calling forreform of the system. In advance of theSeanad debate, FLAC and NorthsideCommunity Law Centre briefed Senatorsand staff in the AV room of LeinsterHouse on issues relevant to the debateand on the findings and recommendationsin both FLAC’s Not Fair Enough reportand NCLC’’s earlier 2005 study of theappeals system.

On behalf of the Independent group,Senator Katherine Zappone presented avery reasoned motion, seconded bySenator Fiach Mac Conghail. While manyon both sides of the House voiced supportas well as concerns about the appealssystem arising from their own experience,the motion was still voted down bymembers, although it may have been anopportunity for Minister for SocialProtection Joan Burton TD to pursue areform agenda.

Minister Burton welcomed FLAC’s report“as a valuable analysis of the social welfareappeals system through a human rightslens” and said “[i]t is important, particu -larly in straitened times like this, to standback, reflect and ensure that the drive forefficiency does not compromise thequality or fairness of the services that aredelivered”. However, she did not concedeany of the issues raised or practical stepsbased on FLAC’s research and analysis.

Instead, the Government put forward alengthy counter-motion which neitheracknowledged the inherent problems inthe system nor took account of systemdefects highlighted by Senators of allpersuasions. These included the lack offair procedures, lengthy delays, absence ofactual and perceived independence andthat people are being referred to charitiesor left at risk of destitution.

The Independents’ motion called for verypractical reforms, which included:

4 furnishing the appellant with a copyof his or her social welfare file,

4 putting an option to request an oralhearing on the appeals form, and

4 simplifying and making moreaccessible the application forms.

Senator Zappone called for transparencyand independence in line with thefundamental right to fair procedures, whileher colleague, Senator MacConghailfocused on putting more resources intothe initial decision-making process. Otherindependents, including David Norris andJillian Van Turnhout, talked passionatelyabout the right of equal access toinformation and ensuring that people inneed were afforded an effective remedy.

What was particularly disappointing aboutthe passing of the Government motionwas that the Independents raised this issuenot as a stick to beat the government;rather, they expressed a genuine desire toimprove the system for administrators andappellants alike. From the informed andfervent speeches of each Senator whospoke on this issue, this is a question thatmany if not all encounter persistently, andthey all wanted improvements of somesort in the system. Senators from acrossthe spectrum commended theIndependents on the motion. But it was tono avail, as not only was it defeated, butthe Government parties, despite many oftheir members expressing regret at havingto reject the Independents’ motion, votedfor a counter-motion which expressedconfidence in a flawed system.

Why is FLAC so concerned about thesocial welfare appeals system? Becausethe Appeals Office is a quasi-judicialbody which issues legally binding

decisions that can have an enormousimpact on the lives of people. FLACand others see this in our everyday work.The Appeals Office is not simply anextension of the Department of SocialProtection and shouldn’t be considered assuch. There are valid reasons why FLAC,as well as Northside Community LawCentre, continues to call for itsindependence. We base this call on theright to fair procedures enshrined in bothour Constitution and the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights.

Senators called for an audit of the AppealsOffice to ensure it complies with its humanrights obligations, as these should underpinany system seeking to adjudicate on casesaffecting some of the most marginalisedmembers of our society. Seeking to beconstructive and to contribute to makingthe appeals system work better, FLACproduced an analysis of the law and acomprehensive breakdown of theindicators and standards which need to bemet for use in any audit.

By failing to support the motion, thegovernment is showing it does not acceptthat resources could be better used andpeople better treated. While somerecommendations may require resour cesin the short-term, they could reform thesystem for the better in the longer termand save time, resources and hardship forpeople who cannot afford to be leftwaiting for months or even years.

At the Oireachtas briefing on the social welfare appeals system (L-R): Sen. Katherine Zappone, Michael Farrell, Moya de Paor (NCLC) and Saoirse Brady

Read the full transcript of Seanaddebate: url.ie/god2



5F 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 1 2

Insolvency Bill: Not just a marathon,but a sprint through Oireachtas

FLAC Senior Policy Analyst Paul Joyce presenting FLAC’s assessment of the Personal Insolvency Bill 2012 to Oireachtas staff and representatives

“The planned insolvencylegislation is one of four strandsof action promised by

government in its Action Plan onmortgage debt but our assessment isthat each strand contains weaknessesand that the overall action plan isincomplete.”

This was the assessment of FLACSenior Policy Researcher Paul Joyce onthe proposed Personal Insolvency Billon its introduction to the Seanad on 21November. Paul Joyce, along withDirector General Noeline Blackwell,was making a presentation toOireachtas members and staff in theLeinster House Audio-Visual room justahead of the Seanad session. At thattime, although the legislation had beenconsidered by the Dail through allstages, including a specially convenedCommittee hearing in September,there were substantial gaps in the draftlaw. In addition, flaws identified byFLAC when the Bill was introduced inthe summer of 2012 still remained.

The Bill that emerged from the Seanadon 19 December, as the Oireachtaswas rising for its Christmas holidays,was much changed. So manyamendments were introduced by thegovernment that the Department ofJustice and Equality had to issue arevised Explanatory Memorandum forthe guidance of the legislature.

Among the amendments proposed andaccepted by both houses of theOireachtas were the inclusion of a

category of ‘excludable’ debts andprovisions relating to minimumincome. In addition, the amendmentsprovided for eight specialistbankruptcy judges to be appointed, aswell as provision for personalinsolvency practitioners. While FLACwill be publishing more information onthe legislation over the comingmonths, it is worth focusing a littleattention on two aspects that have thecapacity to improve how the legislationwill work for consumers – excludabledebts and minimum income guideline

FLAC has previously pointed out thatthe more debts that are excluded fromany insolvency scheme, the more likelyit is to fail. The amendments to debtcategorisation will allow those whosedebts are excluded and thereforepayable in full – such as the RevenueCommissioners or a fine – to opt toallow their debts to be part of theinsolvency scheme. This may mean thatpart of a debt may have to be writtenoff, but pragmatically, that may be thebest way to have a further portion ofthe debt paid.

While it was always clear that thelegislation would have to refer tominimum income, FLAC wasconcerned that the content of suchguidelines would rest entirely with thenew Insolvency Service. FLAC believedthat the Service should be given broadpolicy parameters before thishappened. We are thus pleased to seethat such guidelines must take account

of poverty indicators, the wealth ofdata that exists about householdincome and expenditure indicators andhave regard too to social inclusion andeconomic inclusion indicators. TheInsolvency Service must consult withvarious Ministers before issuingguidelines and should also consult withother ‘appropriate’ bodies. FLACbelieves that such bodies shouldinclude the Vincentian Partnershipwhich has done sterling work ondeveloping objective criteria onminimum income and should alsoconsult with FLAC and with the MoneyAdvice and Budgeting Service with theaim of achieving the best possibleguidelines.

Despite the poor process, drivingthrough important changes withoutadequate scrutiny and without anyreference to a regulatory impactassessment, we have to be glad thatthe end of 2012 finally brings Ireland amore modern personal insolvencyscheme. It is not certain that it willwork. FLAC remains concerned aboutthe effective creditor-focused balanceof the bill, the lack of appeal fordebtors and the complexity of thescheme. The Minister for Justice hassaid that he will be watching to see thatit works and will amend it if it doesn’t.We’ll seek to hold him to that.

The Personal Insolvency Act 2012,No.44 of 2012, was signed into law byPresident Michael D. Higgins on 26December 2012.




Welfare appeals system ‘not fair enough’[continued from front page]

by the Appeals Officer; nor do they haveaccess to previous decisions which may berelevant to their case. One of FLAC’smain concerns is the decline in thenumber of oral hearings as opposed todecisions based on the written evidenceonly, as there is a much higher rate ofsuccess when an oral hearing is held; in2011, some 48 per cent of appeals weresuccessful following an oral hearingwhereas less than 25 per cent weresuccessful when a decision was made onthe documentary evidence only.

FLAC welcomes the Chief AppealsOfficer’s comments that the percentage ofdecisions made by oral hearing hasincreased in 2012, but would reiteratethat appellants should actively be toldabout their option for an oral hearing andencouraged to request one to increasetheir chances of success. The Ombudsmanemphasised the importance of oralhearings as she feels “very strongly that amove away from oral hearings tosummary decision-making is not a movetoward greater fairness in the appealsystem.”

Current delays in the appeals processmean that it does not provide an effectiveor efficient remedy. While the ChiefAppeals Officer has stated that there hasbeen a reduction in processing times,people may still have to wait the greaterpart of a year on average to have an oralhearing in their case. This is much too longwhen a person is seeking to assert his orher right to a social welfare payment.Given that almost half of all appeals aresuccessful, FLAC believes this high successrate points to flaws within the initialdecision-making process and has called forthe system to be frontloaded and theprocess simplified. The possibility ofreceiving arrears in the future is notacceptable for people who may go intodebt or who need to rely on charity tokeep afloat in the meantime.

FLAC’s proposals are meant to offer aframework against which the AppealsOffice might assess whether or not itcomplies with its human rights obligations.FLAC’s critique is constructive and in noway takes away from the work of theAppeals Office which has had to cope witha record number of appeals.

While welcome, the commitment by FineGael and Labour in the Programme forGovern ment “to clear the social welfareappeals backlog” is not enough unlessaccompanied by a range of reforms toimprove the system for the benefit of both

Aengus O Snodaigh, Sinn Fein spokespersonon Social Protection

David Mitchell, Law Centre NI

Fianna Fail spokesperson on Social Protection Willie O’Dea TD (L) & Press Officer Eoin Weldon

L-R: Dan Kavanagh, Dep. Chief Appeals Officer, Geraldine Gleeson, Chief Appeals Officer;

Saoirse Brady, FLAC Policy & Advocacy Officer; and Michael Farrell, FLAC Senior Solicitor

Download ‘Not FairEnough’ at flac.ie You can get a print copyfrom FLAC but you willhave to cover postagecosts.

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7F 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 1 2

Irish Rule of Law International is aproject-orientated, non-profit charityestablished by the Law Society and the

Bar Council. It has set up projects inEthiopia, Kenya, Kosovo, Vietnam, SouthAfrica, Zambia and Malawi. Part-fundedby Irish Aid, our Malawi project aims toincrease access to justice for those heldwithin the heavily congested criminaljustice system in Malawi through capacitybuilding, training of police officers andMagistrates (lay judiciary), involvement ina prosecution-led diversion programme,running of bail clinics.

A pilot project was launched out ofLilongwe, which is in the administrativecentral region, in August 2011. Twoprogramme lawyers are on the ground inLilongwe. Ruth Dowling BL is based in theDepartment of Legal Aid with ongoingoutreach clinic work within the localprisons. Lilongwe has two prisons in itsimmediate vicinity, Maula adult prison andKachere, a juvenile facility. Solicitor EithneLynch is based in the Director of PublicProsecution’s office, with an ongoingplacement in Lilongwe Police Station.

The prosecution aspect of the projectseeks to implement a restorative justiceprogramme, assist with the progression ofcases and act as a prosecution liaison withjuvenile justice cases. By positioningourselves in this manner the project isbest placed to increase access to justicewithin the criminal system in Malawi.While we work on individual cases, werecognise the overwhelming need forsystemic, sustainable interventions when itcomes to confronting overcrowding. Forthis reason we are also focusing on theseinnovative approaches to restorativejustice and diversion which can providelong term solutions to the problem.

With no representation defendants areoften held in custody for years, often farlonger than the maximum sentenceallowed for the offences they are allegedto have committed, until a trial courtacquits or sentences them. Warrants areregularly misplaced with prisonersbecoming lost in the system, unsure ofwhat they are in fact charged with or howlong they will be there. Ninety per cent of

all detainees in Malawi will never haveaccess to any legal representation, adviceor assistance. The vast majority of thoseare persons who have allegedlycommitted minor offences.

The programme lawyers work hand inhand with the police officers to implementa diversion programme in the policestation. Diversion can be defined as thechannelling of prima facie cases away fromthe criminal justice system, with orwithout conditions. Conditions rangefrom a simple caution or referral to thewelfare system, to participation inreformatory programmes and/orreparation or restitution. Diversion cantake place prior to arrest, charge, plea,trial or sentencing. In the second half ofthe pilot year, a total of 45 people werediverted from police custody at LilongwePolice Station, most of whom wereminors and particularly vulnerable people.

Recognising that young people inparticular needed additional care andprotection, the project established anaftercare programme to assist youngpeople who had come into conflict withthe law. In collaboration with a ScottishNGO, Venture Trust, the projectimplemented the first ever diversionaftercare programme through the MalawiPolice Services. This programme, MwaiWosinthika (Chance for Change), aims togive young people the chance andopportunity to change their circumstance,

but perhaps more importantly and moreempowering, giving them responsibilityand therefore a choice about wanting tomake a change in their behaviour andtherefore how to deal with life’sproblems. One major consequence willbe the reduction in numbers of youngpeople placed in custody so that they cancontinue to learn in school or becomeproductive members of their communityand Malawian society. The pilot projecthas now been extended into 2013.

The most important success to date is thedecision by the High Court to go into theadult prison and deal with the cases ofpeople who have remained in prison since2005. The programme lawyers haveworked tirelessly at bringing numerousbail applications to the High Court onbehalf of those who have never been toCourt. After 16 months the President ofthe High Court Ms Esme Chombo hasorganised that her Court, DPP lawyersand Legal Aid lawyers will attend Maulaprison and work through the back log.

More on the project in a future issue ofFLAC News.

See irishruleoflaw.ie for more. Toget involved, contact IRLI

Co-ordinator Rachel Power atDistillery Building, 145-151Church Street, Dublin 7 Tel: 01 817 5331 or e-mail:[email protected]

Rule of Law International Project: Improving access to justice in Malawi

Ruth Dowling BL (above right) with Michael Irvine, IRLI Director, at Kachere Juvenile Prison

by Eithne Lynch, solicitor, and Ruth Dowling BL, IRLI, reporting from Malawi


8 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 1 2


Hammarberg delivers Dave

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The Sixth Annual Dave Ellis Memor -ial Lecture took place on 13December in Dublin, with this

year’s speaker, Thomas Hammarberg,speaking on access to justice generally and inparticular on the importance of humanrights norms in times of economic austerity.

One of the leading human rights figures inEurope today, Thomas Hammarberg mostrecently served as Council of Europe'sCommissioner for Human Rights from2006 to 2012. He visited Ireland a numberof times during his term of office and hisreports spoke strongly about the rights ofTravellers, asylum seekers andtransgender persons. He also warnedabout the danger that the current financialcrisis and the measures taken to deal withit could impact most severely on thepoorest and most vulnerable in society.He is currently Honorary President of theMental Disability Centre in Budapest.

Mr Hammarberg opened his FLAC lecturewith an environmental analogy for thecountry’s recent economic difficulty.While some commentators insist ontalking about the recession as being akin tosome sort of natural disaster, MrHammarberg reminded the audience thatthe crisis was man-made. He said thatcrisis was “...the result of a series ofdecisions taken by human beings, amongthem prominent bankers, investors - andpoliticians...”.

He was adamant that lessons can, indeedmust, be learnt in the aftermath of

recession. What Ireland now required was“...honest, self-critical analysis on why itwent wrong and how such a disaster canbe avoided in the future...”. MrHammarberg also highlighted thedevastating effects of inadequate stateregulation by quoting uS President BarackObama, who said the economic downturn“...combined the breathtaking greed of afew with irresponsibility across thesystem...” In a wry aside, Mr Hammarbergnoted that he had difficulty finding aspeech from any European leader on theissue as clear and concise as Mr Obama.

Despite commonly being referred to as‘second generation’ rights, said Mr.Hammarberg, economic and social rightsare full and indivisible human rights. This isevidenced by ‘Freedom from Want’ beingone of the four freedoms laid down byPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt. They alsofeature in the universal Declaration ofHuman Rights and in International LabourOrganisation conventions. As regardsprotecting such rights, Mr Hammarbergraised concerns over the futureresourcing of human rights bodies.Specifically, he referred to the proposedmerger of human rights and equalitybodies due to take place in 2013. Referringto socio-economic rights, he said that “...itis not sufficient to pay lip service to the'social dimension' in the debate abouteconomic policies. The agreed standardson social and economic rights must begiven a much more prominent positionwhen crucial decisions are to be taken on

L-R: Anastasia Crickley, UN CERD and NUIMaynooth, and Sarah Flynn, wife of Dave Ellis,

with Thomas Hammarberg

Thomas Hammarberg with Children’sOmbudsman Emily Logan (centre) and FLAC

Director General Noeline Blackwell

L-R: Edel Quinn,Children’s Rights Alliance; Jo Kenny,Pensions Board; FLAC volunteer Niamh McEvilly,

Gillian Kernan, FLAC; Lianne Murphy & Maeve Regan, PILA



all aspects of economic policy. This is thelesson...”.

Civil society and voluntary organisationshave an important role to play, especially insecuring human rights for vulnerable andmarginalised groups. The very peoplewhose rights are most at risk are often thesame people who are least able to accessinformation about rights in the first place.Information on social security entitle ments,personal debt and the legal system is vitaland often that information is provided byvoluntary organisations. Mr Ham marbergsaid “I believe we cannot overestimate theimportance of non-governmental groupsand initiatives as a counter balance to thetrends I have just described.”

He singled out FLAC for its work onaccess to justice initiatives. He describedFLAC’s work as crucial. "They givetangible relief to people whose rights areat risk. They set an admirable example.They represent a caring, democratic spiritwhich gives some hope in the darkness.”

As a strong advocate of Roma andTraveller rights as well as LGBT groups,Mr Hammarberg expressed disap point -ment at the continued discrimination ofmarginalised groups and the increasedchallenge for such groups in access tojustice. He noted the ongoing struggle ofDr Lydia Foy to have her gender identityfully recognised by her government.

Looking to Ms Foy among the attendees at

the lecture, Mr Hammarberg expressedincredulity that five years had passed sinceher successful High Court judgment withstill no sign of legislation.

Thomas Hammarberg also addressedsome topical issues on the Irish agenda.He called for a full independent and legalinquiry into the murder of Northern Irishsolicitor Pat Finucane, and following thedeath of Savita Halappanavar, he stressedthe need for the Irish Government tolegislate for the A , B, and C judgment.

FLAC's annual lecture is held in honour ofthe late Dave Ellis, a community activistwho dedicated his career to working withcommunity groups in areas includingwelfare rights, legal aid, legal educationand legal entitlements generally. He wasCommunity Law Officer at CoolockCommunity Law Centre, the predecessorto Northside CLC, for more than 20years. Since the first memorial lecture in2007, it has since gone from strength tostrength, with such prolific and respectedspeakers as Professor Gerry Whyte ofTrinity College Dublin, Steve Shapiro ofthe American Civil Liberties union,former Senator and Northern IrelandOmbudsman Maurice Hayes, MichaelMansfield QC and most recently BaronessNuala O’Loan, former Police Ombudsmanin Northern Ireland.

4 From Sweden, Thomas Ham mar bergwas Secretary G eneral o f AmnestyInternational 1980-1986 and wasSwedish Ambassado r fo r Humani -tar ian A ffairs 1986-2002. Mr Ham -marberg served as regional A dvisorto the UN High C ommis sioner fo rHuman Rights fo r Europe, C entralA sia and the C aucasus pr io r to hisC ouncil o f Europe commis sioner ship.During his term as Human RightsC ommissioner , he v isited andreported on almost all o f the 47member states o f the C ouncil o fEurope, placing special emphasis onLGBT r ights and the r ights o f Roma,and receiving the Stockho lm PeacePrize jo intly w ith the European RomaRights C entre in A pril o f this year fo rhis work on Roma r ights.

Ellis Memorial Lecture

9F 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 1 2

L-R: Annmarie O’Connor, MABSndl; MartinNaughton, DFI; Sylda Langford, CIB Chairperson.

Sile Larkin, Equality Tribunal and Judge Mary Ellen Ring

L-R: Mark Kelly, ICCL; Geraldine Scullion; ThomasHammarberg and Karen McLaughlin, NICEM

(L-R) Thomas Hammarberg with FLAC client Lydia Foy and FLAC chairperson Peter Ward.

Download Mr Hammarberg’s full address at flac.ie




Since it was set up in 1969, FLAC hasalways depended on the work of itsvolunteers. The organisation is very

grateful to the volunteer solicitors andbarristers who provide a much neededand valuable service. Without theirassistance, at least 12,000 people in 2011would have not been able to receive freelegal advice to help them address theirindividual problems.

Often our callers cannot afford to pay forprivate legal advice and many of themexperience additional disadvantage andmarginalisation. The time that ourvolunteers dedicate to FLAC provides abridge between the difficulties that peopleare facing in their lives and the beginningof the solution.

Although FLAC have always been thankfulfor the contributions of our volunteers,we wanted to take another step informally thanking them. To this end weare launching our FLAC Volunteer

Awards Scheme. The Award consists of alisting on FLAC’s Roll of Long ServiceVolunteers, a special golden FLAC lapelpin and a certificate.

The first group of qualifying volunteerswere acknowledged at FLAC’s annualDave Ellis lecture on 13 December 2012.The aims of the awards are:

• To acknowledge the commitment andsupport given by FLAC volunteers,

• To let volunteers know that they domake a difference in their localcommunities,

• To celebrate volunteers,• To encourage volunteering within the

legal profession and• To raise awareness of the importance

of the work FLAC volunteers carryout in the centres.

On this occasion, volunteers who aredirectly managed by FLAC and who havevolunteered regularly (10 or more timesper year) for the past three years are

recognised. Next year, FLAC hope toextend the award scheme to FLACvolunteers country-wide.

We acknowledge that our records may beincomplete and may have missed out somevolunteers from our lists. So FLAC asksvolunteers to let us know if they qualifyfor the award or know of someone elsewho should also qualify for the award fortheir long and regular service. Once again,FLAC thanks all the volunteers for givingtheir time and skills so generously.

We hope that our volunteers have apositive and rewarding experience and thatthey keep volunteering with FLAC for along time to come. As Zsé Varga, FLAC’sVolunteer and Centres Manager, says:

I have a favourite quote which says‘Volunteers are unpaid, not becausethey are worthless but because theyare priceless’. I think that sums up thecontribution of our volunteers verywell.

FLAC launches first volunteer recognition scheme

This is a call: Volunteers needed in Navan!Fully qualified solicitors and barristers are needed to volunteer atthe FLAC service in Navan, Co. Meath. The volunteers are asked toprovide first-stop legal information and advice in the centre. Theclinics take place on the 1st Wednesday of each month. Legalinformation and guides will be provided to support your work. ThisFLAC centre is managed by the Meath Citizens Information Service.

If you would like further information about this volunteeropportunity with FLAC, please contact Eileen Flaherty at the NavanCitizens Information Centre (076) 107 6150 or e-mail [email protected]

FLAC legal interns Vanessa Lawlor, A nitaHowlin, Doris O bot O godo , Louise Mitchell &

Maria V ictory at the Dave Ellis MemorialLecture on 13 December. See page 14 foran insight into the work of legal interns in

FLAC.

Meet the interns!




F O C U S O N F L A C :

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500

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Family

Employment Law

Credit and Debt

Wills / Probate

Consumer Law

Housing / Landlord

Criminal

Property

Negligence / Personal Injuries

Other Civil Matters

Immigration / Refugee Law

Social Welfare Law

Neighbour disputes

Client-Solicitor Relations 134

207

291

335

383

426

484

500

541

627

771

934

1525

3315

During the first three quarters of 2012, almost10,000 people contacted our telephoneinformation line and almost 10,000 people

attended FLAC centres across the country, showing aconsistent demand and need for FLAC’s services.

Family law continues to be the most common source ofqueries both on the phone line and in the centres. Withinfamily law, divorce/separation queries are most frequent,followed by custody/access/guardianship queries andmaintenance queries. This pattern is reflected in both callsto the information line and in the advice centres.

While employment law is still the second most commontype of query in the centres, the number of employmentqueries to centres and on the information line is down thisyear. Contract terms are the most discussed employmentquery, followed by dismissal and redundancy, followed bydiscrimination and bullying.

Credit and debt-related queries continue to be the secondmost common area of law discussed on the lo-calltelephone helpline, and have also increased by almost 10%in the centres. Mortgage arrears is the most common debtrelated query, followed by personal loans, then debtcollection procedures.

Calls to FLAC’s telephone information line have shown a24% increase in legal aid queries, up from 362 calls in thefirst three quarters of 2011 to 449 in the first threequarters of 2012. There has also been a 27% increase inNegligence/Personal Injury calls, up from 159 to 203 calls.

In the centres there was a 13% in rise in Housing queries,up from 479 queries in the first three quarters of 2011 to541 in the first three quarters of 2012, and also a 13% risein Social Welfare queries up from 257 to 291.

0

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Credit & DebtCivil

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Employment

Wills & ProbateCriminal

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HousingSolicitor / Client Issues

Consumer

Property

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Social Welfare

Immigration

Contract

Neighbour disputes

Company 526598

148

181

203217

276

287

328

449

484516

735847

1017

1181

2190

Families most under pressure in 2012FLAC PHONE CALLS BY CATEGORY Q1-3 2012

FLAC CENTRE VISITS BY CATEGORY Q1-3 2012

Child Benefit arrears paid in ‘Zambrano’ case

Anon-Eu national mother,represented by FLAC, recentlyreceived just over two years

arrears of Child Benefit . ‘Bridget’ (not herreal name) came to Ireland as an asylumseeker in 2002. She had a baby here who,under the law at the time, was entitled toIrish citizenship.

Bridget left Ireland again later in 2002 butreturned in 2007 and re-applied for asylum.She was placed in direct provision andstayed there until September 2011, whenshe was given leave to remain in Irelandfollowing a decision by the Court of Justiceof the European union in the case of theZambrano family in May 2011. In that case,the Court held that if a child was an Eucitizen and was dependent upon her/hisparents, then the parents should be allowedto stay in the Eu state with their child.

Bridget had applied for Child Benefit severaltimes since returning to Ireland in 2007 buthad been refused on the basis that she didnot have a right to reside in the State. Whenshe was given leave to remain, theDepartment of Social Protection acceptedthat she now had a right to reside and shewas granted Child Benefit from that date.

FLAC asked the Department’s DecidingOfficer to review this decision, arguing thatthe effect of the Zambrano judgment wasthat the parent concerned should have had aright to reside all along. This point had beenaccepted by the Social Welfare AppealsOffice in a case published in its AnnualReport 2011 and in several FLAC cases.

The Deciding Officer accepted the point andpayments were backdated by a further twoyears. There are some other issues to beresolved in Bridget’s case but there is also a

general point to be made.

It is now more than 18 months since theZambrano decision and the Appeals Officehas accepted that it has a retrospectiveeffect if other conditions of the HabitualResidence Condition are met. TheDepartment should stop automaticallyrejecting applications for arrears inZambrano-type cases. It should not benecessary to appeal and argue these pointsover again in every single case.

Instead of requiring every claimant to gothrough the time-consuming (for all sides)appeals process, FLAC argues that theDepartment should just inform all remainingZambrano parents of their right to paymentof arrears if they satisfy the other HRCconditions, and clear this backlog so thatthey can start to reduce the totallyunacceptable delays in the Appeals Office.



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 1 21 2

Inside the Centre: FLAC @ Pearse StreetPILA attended and spoke at

PILnet’s sixth annual EuropeanPro Bono Forum, held in Madrid

on 25 and 26 October 2012. TheForum provides an internationalcomparative perspective on pro bonopractice in Europe. More than 350international attendees – lawyers,NGO representatives, academics –from 48 countries were at the Forumand heard from a range of speakers onpro bono initiatives in Europe andglobally.

Noeline Blackwell, Director General ofFLAC, spoke at the opening plenarysession of the Forum. She addressedthe role that pro bono lawyers can playin addressing the needs of the mostvulnerable, particularly in these times ofgreat economic challenge, and outlinedthe impact the recession is having onmarginalised and disadvantaged peoplein Ireland.

Spain’s Minister for Justice, AlbertoRuiz-Gallardón, who also spoke at theopening session, said that in a time ofcrisis, such as the present direeconomic situation in his country, probono work takes on a very specialimportance as government resourcesfor public legal aid shrink underausterity measures. He also said that“lawyers need to give back to societywhat they have been able to pull fromit”.

PILA Project Officer Lianne Murphyspoke on a panel that discussed howpro bono projects can result insystemic change when lawyers getinvolved in strategic pro bono projectsi.e. those that are likely to have a wideor systemic impact, rather than justone-off pieces of work.

Lianne gave some examples of strategicprojects that lawyers on the PILA probono register are involved in, e.g. a

group of lawyers that came together toassist Barnardos by researching thelegal framework and models ofaftercare in other jurisdictions tosupport their view that aftercare shouldbe mandatory here in Ireland.

Executive Director of PILnet, EdwinRekosh afterwards commented on thesuccess of the Forum saying that “whenthe Forum was first launched in 2007,we hoped that the seed we wereplanting might take root and that slowlypro bono might become part of the legallandscape in Europe. To see theflowering of that idea in such a short

time is a tremendous statement aboutpro bono as a wellspring of social justice.”

A&L Goodbody attended the Forum,making it the first Irish law firm to doso. A&L Goodbody is signed up to thePILA pro bono register and have carriedout extensive pro bono work throughPILA.

Read more on PILNet's work atwww.pilnet.org/.

Conference proceedings are atprobonoforum.eu/

PUBLIC INTEREST LAW ALLIANCEU P D A T E

European Pro Bono Forum 2012

To help us in our campaigning to remove barriers to public interest litigation, inNovember PILA Legal Officer Maeve Regan attended a conference in theEuropean Parliament in Brussels on “Increasing Access to Justice Through EUClass Actions”. PILA had helped to organise this conference with a number oforganisations, including the American Bar Association and NUI Maynooth.

PILA convened two panels at the conference: on 'Access to Justice as a HumanRight' and 'Class Actions to Enforce Basic Human Rights'. Over 100 lawyers andpolicy makers attended the conference. The central ideas of the event were theusefulness of class actions in accessing the courts, the best model for a classaction system and whether there could be a basis in EU law for requiring allMember States to have a class action procedure. Ireland is very unusual amongdeveloped jurisdictions in not allowing class actions.

Speakers at the PILA-convened sessions included Baher Azmy, Legal Director ofthe Centre for Constitutional Rights, New York. Mr Azmy described class actionsas a “key tool” in the protection of civil rights. The Centre has used class actionsin cases involving police misconduct, where the plaintiffs challenged the policeaction of “stop and frisk”. Mr Azmy said that this action is taken about 22,000times a day and they had evidence that 85% of those subjected to it were blackor Latino. He said the class action was the appropriate method here and in othercases where the individual damage may be considered minor but where, whenhundreds and thousands of stories are aggregated, the impugned actions areclearly seen to be more serious.

Papers from the conference will be available shortly on www.pila.ie.

Conference on use of classactions in EU held in Brussels




PILA held an evening public eventon Thursday 4 October 2012 tocoincide with the International Bar

Association’s annual conference takingplace in Dublin. The event was held inassociation with Marriage Equality anddealt with three different legal rightsissues; marriage equality, Indigenouspeople’s rights and poverty, business andhuman rights. PILA were very fortunate tohave a high calibre of speakers.

R. Douglas Elliott, one of Canada’s leadingconstitutional lawyers, with manySupreme Court cases on LGBT rights tohis credit including the leading same-sexmarriage case in Canada, Re Same SexMarriages, spoke about marriage equality,as did Justine Quinn BL, co-founder of theLGBT Lawyers Association of Ireland.Susan Fay, Managing Solicitor with theIrish Traveller Movement Law Centre’sand Garth Wallbridge, a leading Canadian

Attorney onaboriginal rights andchair of the CanadianBar AssociationAboriginal LawSection, spoke onIndigenous people’srights. Lastly, LloydLipsett from the IBAHuman RightsInstitute’s taskforceon illicit financialflows spoke aboutpoverty, businessand human rights.

The feedback fromthe seminar wasexcellent and thepresentations areavailable onwww.pila.ie.

IBA event showcases legal rights topics

Date for your diary!Practitioner

Seminar on the EUCharter of

Fundamental Rights

Speaking at the IBA event on Marriage Equality is Canadian lawyer DouglasElliott LSM, with FLAC Director General Noeline Blackwell seated.

On 7 February 2013 PILA will hold itssixth practitioner seminar. The event,entitled Using the C har ter o fFundamental Rights o f the EU – fromtheory to practice, will run from 4pmto 6pm in the Morrison Hotel, LowerOrmond Quay, Dublin 1.

It will feature Jonathan Cooper OBE,of Doughty Street Chambers and DrSuzanne Kingston of uCD. JonathanCooper OBE has renowned expertisein human rights law and in invoking theCharter. Dr Suzanne Kingston hasextensive experience in Eu law, bothacademically and in practice. MichaelFarrell, Senior Solicitor with FLAC willchair the seminar.

A wine reception will be held after thetalk. Please note that as places arelimited, you will need to RSVP toLouise Mitchell [email protected] to confirmyour place, indicating any specialrequirements.

Above left: Atanas Politov, PILnet Director for Europe speaking at the PILNet forum in Madrid; Above right: attendees at the forum

Speakers atthe Forum inMadrid (L-R):Suzanne ETurner ofDecherts

(USA), JasperTeulings ofGreenpeace,Yasmin

Baltiwala ofA4ID andAnastasia

Dergacheva ofMorgan Lewis& Bockius(Russia).




Lorraine Walsh is FLAC’s Volunteer andCentres Intern. Lorraine has a Diploma inLegal Studies from DIT as well as twoother diplomas in the areas ofemployment law and mediation. She hasalso studied for the FE1 exams. Lorraine’swork at FLAC involves recruiting andmanaging volunteer advisors for ournetwork of advice centres. These are thesolicitors and barristers who assist peoplein centres, explain what options are opento them and where they may obtainfurther assistance. The legal advice centresare mainly located at Citizens’ InformationCentres around the country and Lorraineprovides support to ensure that they arerun smoothly as well as schedulingvolunteers so that they are signed up fordates that suit them.

Through her internship, Lorraine feels shemay be suited to work in the area ofhuman resources. “I came in here thinkingit would be a great platform to decidewhat I’d do next, and I have discoveredthat I really do like the ‘human resources’side of things.”

Andrew Guy came to FLAC after aMasters in Legal Studies at DIT, where hecompleted a thesis in the area of mentalhealth law. Like a number of FLAC legalinterns, Andrew’s time is split betweenFLAC’s confidential telephone informationline and his programme work. Andrew iscurrently working alongside FLAC’sDirector General, Noeline Blackwell, onCivil Legal Aid. As Andrew notes, it wasFLAC who first lobbied the government toestablish a civil legal aid scheme. “FLAChas been campaigning since the schemewas introduced for a morecomprehensive, fairer system, and we’realways looking for ways to improve it”.

Andrew feels that working at FLAC allowsinterns to get a hands-on understanding ofthe NGO and legal sectors. “You’reexposed to a lot of things that maybe inother jobs, at this level, you wouldn’texperience. There’s case work; you getopportunities to go to different events,seminars, meet people that you wouldprobably spend a career hoping to meet,

so it’s been really great doing that.”

Anita Howlin came to FLAC after com -pleting a legal studies degree at WaterfordIT. She too spends part of her dayproviding basic legal information to thepublic over the phone and is working onFLAC's programme dealing with Creditand Debt Law reform.

At the moment, Anita is involved inresearching and writing up a user guidearound the incoming Personal Insolvencylegislation. Regarding her work on theinformation line, she finds greatsatisfaction in knowing that people havegone away with helpful information:”People can be very friendly and verygrateful for any kind of information or helpyou can give them. You get a good senseof achievement from doing work like that.You get a lot back.”

Emma Cassidy began her work withFLAC on the organisation's com munica -tions portfolio. Her day can cover avariety of media-related activities, fromdrafting press releases and articles for theweb to liaising with journalists or helpingin the organisation of campaign events. Shealso carries out legal research for FLAC’ssocial welfare law reform campaigns.

With an LLM in Human Rights and

Criminal Justice and a love of the NGOsector, working at FLAC fulfils many ofEmma’s personal interests, and she isexcited to be working for an organisationthat has had been so influential in Irishhuman rights law. As she said herself, “In away, it’s quite surreal. When I wasstudying human rights, this is the sort ofjob that I was dying to go and do, and nowI’m here!”

For these interns, their work experienceat FLAC has been a rewarding andchallenging experience. Being given avariety of tasks to do has allowed each ofthem to begin to discover strengths andfind out what it’s like to work in a legaloffice environment.

All would agree that their experience hereis something positive that they will carrywith them into the future. FLAC hasoccasional openings for internships –contact [email protected] for more.

L-R: Andrew Guy, Emma Cassidy, Lorraine Walsh and Anita Howlin

F O C U S O N F L A C :

Legal Interns: Emma Cassidy, Andrew Guy, Anita Howlin, Lorraine WalshIn this issue, we talk to four interns with FLAC since early 2012. They are participants on a FÁS LTI scheme that offers them thechance to do FETAC-accredited courses and gain valuable work experience, which they hope to use to find employment following

the programme. From time to time FLAC has openings for law and other graduates on this scheme – see flac.ie for more.

Law students!!!In this issue, we talk to four interns withFLAC since early 2012. They are participantson a FÁS LTI scheme that offers them thechance to do FETAC-accredited courses andgain valuable work experience, which theyhope to use to find employment followingthe programme. FLAC is grateful to FÁS forits support.


While long waiting times forcivil legal aid and for courthearings cause concern in

Ireland, the Fundamental Rights Agencyconference held in Brussels in December2012 showed that these concerns areshared throughout Europe.

Based in Vienna, the Fundamental RightsAgency is a European union body which isresponsible for providing evidence-basedadvice to the Eu on fundamental rightsquestions. It is guided by a ManagementBoard of independent experts from eachmember state. The 400 delegates whoattended the conference included thosewho administer justice, who make policy,who work in NGOs – including FLAC’sNoeline Blackwell – and academics. Therecurring theme of the conference washow economic austerity was restricting orreducing access to justice. There was aparticular focus on the importance ofaccess to justice in avoiding discrimination.

Access to justice was examined both in thecontext of access to the courts and accessto a just outcome. On the former context,the Council of Europe’s Commissioner forHuman Rights, Nils Muizniek, tolddelegates:

In my day-to-day work … I amconfronted with a simple reality:human rights and the rule of laware empty words when the justicesystem is inefficient or inaccessible.In practice, litigation remains oneof the most effective ways in whichhuman rights standards come tolife for ordinary citizens. When acourt enforces a human right in aparticular case, it is not only thelitigant who benefits from it, butthe whole society.

Nuala Mole, Director of the uK’s AIRECentre, suggested that she did not accepta reduction in budgets as an excuse to cutpeople’s access to legal aid. She suggestedthat if the State could afford to prosecutea case, then it could afford the fundsneeded to permit a proper defence. In hisaddress, Nils Muizniek also described thebudgets available to legal aid regimes in anumber of Western European systems,

including Ireland, as relatively generous. Bycomparison, in some of the countries ofEastern Europe, he believed that the legalaid budgets were entirely inadequate evenwhen different legal systems were takeninto account. The range across Council ofEurope countries was between €1 perhead of population in Albania to €46 perhead in the uK. He expressed particularconcern about the access of migrants,children and persons with disabilities tolegal aid and the legal system.

As well as noting similar groups whoseaccess to justice should be assured, theuN High Commissioner for HumanRights, Navanethem Pillay, also spokeabout budget cuts:

While States have a margin ofappreciation with regard toausterity measures this margin ofappreciation is not unlimited.Once States have decided toimplement austerity programmesor budget cuts, considerationsregarding human rights obligationsof States should guide all decision-making in this area. Retrogressive

measures affecting economic,social and cultural rights can onlybe justified after a carefulexamination of all alternatives.

Closing the conference, Maija Sasklin ofthe Fundamental Rights Agency noted that"when times get harder, more rightsviolations are likely to occur". Thisconference was an opportunity toremember the crucial importance ofmaintaining access to justice for everyone;and particularly the extra effort requiredto ensure it for those who are liable tosuffer discrimination. Access to legal aid ispart of this need. So too is support formonitoring bodies such as national humanrights institutions and Ombudsmen. Sotoo is accessible information on the lawand how to use the legal system. All of it isessential in a society that hopes tomaintain fundamental human rights.



Co-chair of Dublin City University’s student FLAC society, Rebecca Townsend, has been awarded aChancellor’s medal at the university's autumn 2012 graduation ceremonies. The medal recognisesoutstanding achievement by a student in both academic and extra-curricular work and is awarded tojust one undergraduate and one postgrad student each year.

Rebecca, a BCL Law & Society student, founded the FLAC society with Elaine Marum. Alongside herstudies and work on the student FLAC, she is a keen sportswoman and volunteer with CARI.

Pictured above are (L-R) Senator Martin McAleese, Chancellor of Dublin City University, RebeccaTownsend and DCU President Brian McCraith.

Agency hears EU-wide concerns on access to justice

FLAC is a member of the EUFundamental Rights Agency.

Read more at: url.ie/gs2q

DCU FLAC chair wins Chancellor’s medal




Applications are now beingaccepted for FLAC’s ThomasAddis Emmet Fellowship 2013.

Law students at undergraduate andpostgraduate level as well as thoseenrolled at King’s Inns and the Law Societyare eligible to apply.

Run by FLAC in conjunction with theuniversity of Washington, Seattle, theFellowship is aimed at Irish law studentswith an interest in public interest law andhuman rights. During their two-month stayin Seattle, Washington, the Fellow will gainfirst-hand experience in an internationalpublic interest law environment. Theaward includes flights, accom modation,meals and a living allowance.

Successful applicants will get theopportunity to interact with American lawstudents, attend law lectures given byexperts in the public interest field and alsoget involved with casework. PreviousThomas Addis Emmet Fellows haveworked with the non-profit WashingtonAppleseed Centre for Public Interest Law.

Washington Appleseed seeks to promotesocial justice by engaging pro bonolawyers and campaigning for legal reform.

Anyone interested in the 2013 Fellowshipcan download the application form from

FLAC’s website at bit.ly/Yci4Yw.Completed forms and CVs should be sentto FLAC, 13 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin1. The closing date for applications is 15February 2013.

Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowshipapplications now open

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders visit

In November the uN SpecialRapporteur on the situation of humanrights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya

made a fact-finding visit to Ireland, herfirst visit to an Eu member state sincetaking up in her mandate in 2008.

Special Rapporteurs are experts in aspecific field of human rights and work forthe uN on a voluntary basis, in their owncapacity, independent of nationalgovernments. Ms Sekaggya is a magistrate,a former Chairperson of the ugandaHuman Rights Commission and a foundingmember of the Human Rights Centreuganda. Her main concern as SpecialRapporteur is the protection of humanrights defenders around the world.

Ms Sekaggya met President Michael D.Higgins, Chief Justice Susan Denham, theIrish Human Rights Commission and theDirector of Public Prosecutions amongothers. She met with civil societyrepresentatives at an NGO roundtableand later in thematic meetings spreadover two days and hosted by FLAC.

Speaking as she left Ireland, Ms Sekaggya

said that while thegeneral environ -ment in Ireland wasfavourable, “Irelandhas not been veryactive in dissemina -ting informationabout the uNDeclaration onHuman RightsDefend ers at thedomestic level andin raising awarenessabout the specificprofile and role ofdefenders in society, particularly of thoseworking for the rights of marginalizedcommunities”.

The high potential cost of public interestlitigation was identified by the SpecialRapporteur as a significant barrier to thework carried out by human rightsdefenders. FLAC has raised this issue,most recently in our submission on theproposed Legal Services Bill. Ms Sekaggyaexpressed concern for several defendersgroups, such as environmental defenders,

activists working on reproductive health,and asylum seekers. She made severalpreliminary recommendations to the IrishGovernment including disseminating theDeclaration on Human Rights Defendersnationally, adopting a National Action Planon human rights and speeding up the draftlegislation on a merged Equality & HumanRights Commission.

She will present her report to the uNHuman Rights Council in early 2013.

Thomas Addis Emmet Fellow for 2012 Valerie O’Driscoll receives her award from Thomas Hammarberg at this year’s Dave Ellis lecture.

Ms Sekaggya with her assistant Dolores Infante Canibano and FLAC folk


Documents

Flac news winter 12 13 web