Free Legal Advice Centres chief warns it cannot meet ‘huge’ demand for legal services

An “overwhelming” demand for legal services here is evident from more than 13,500 people calling the Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac) last year, including a record number of family law queries, its chief executive has said.

Flac is “gravely concerned” another 4,400 people could not get through, Eilis Barry indicated. The “unacceptable” gaps in the current civil legal aid system cannot be filled by Flac, she warned. “We need to reimagine how the State provides public legal assistance and empower and resource State bodies such as the Legal Aid Board, the Citizens Information, and the Irish Human Rights Equality Commission to provide preventive legal services.”

She was speaking prior to the launch on Monday by former chief justice Frank Clarke of Flac’s annual report for 2022, Bringing Access to Justice Together.

Mr Justice Clarke, who chairs the civil legal aid review group, said while the group has not reached any conclusions an “enhanced role” for non-governmental organisations such as Flac “may be part of the solution” for overall delivery of appropriate legal assistance/representation to those who cannot afford it.

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The annual report discloses a record 4,136 family law queries were made to Flac last year, more than one third of all calls. Of those 1,795 (43 per cent) related to divorce or separation; 1,234 (30 per cent) concerned custody, access or guardianship; 802 (19 per cent) were about maintenance; 515 (13 per cent) related to domestic violence; and 509 (12 per cent) related to the family home.

About one third (1,263) of all appointments in Flac clinics in 2022 concerned a family law query.

The number of calls concerning employment law also rose by 5 per cent to 2,063 in 2022. Many concerned contract terms, dismissal and redundancy, and about 10 per cent were about bullying/harassment.

About one in four, 883, of all appointments in Flac clinics in 2022 related to an employment law query.

Of 3,318 consultations at Flac legal advice clinics, 38 per cent, had a family law query, and inquiries regarding divorce/separation and custody, access or guardianship were up more than 20 per cent on 2021. About one third had an employment law query.

Ms Barry said there was “a huge unmet demand for early legal information and advice, especially in areas which have a significant effect on people’s day-to-day lives like family law and employment law”. Another cause of concern was “sustained demand” for employment law information and advice without anywhere to refer callers who cannot afford a private solicitor.

She said there was “nowhere” to refer the 970 lay litigants who contacted Flac last year, up 15 per cent on 2021, who were struggling to navigate the complex court system by themselves.

Flac sees first hand the “dire consequences”, including the risk of extreme poverty and homelessness, of unmet legal need in areas such as housing, social welfare and discrimination, which are outside the scope of the current civil legal aid scheme, she said.

Public legal assistance “should act as a preventive safety net”, resolving legal problems as early as possible and avoiding or minimising their impact on people’s lives.

Flac cannot fill the “unacceptable gaps” in the civil legal aid system which leaves people exposed to “the serious and potentially catastrophic consequences of unmet legal need”.

The annual report outlines Flac’s work in several areas, including its operation of an independent law centre which takes cases in the public interest and runs a Roma legal clinic and Traveller legal services. Housing, homelessness and eviction matters constitute a significant proportion of the casework.

A Roma mother represented by Flac received a significant back-payment of one-parent family payment to cover a lengthy period during which her claim had been wrongly refused.

During 2022 clients of Flac got €48,500 compensation in total at the Workplace Relations Commission for acts of discrimination, including a case where Iceland supermarket had to pay €12,000 to a group of young Travellers who were publicly ordered to leave the shop.

Flac engaged in some new access to justice initiatives last year, including launching a LGBTQ+ legal clinic. It made detailed submissions in relation to housing rights, including proposing a specific wording for a constitutional referendum on the right to housing.