MARGARET ROCHE,
Sir, - We wish to salute a great campaigner on her passing.
Josie Airey fought a seven-year campaign against the Irish Government all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. The court found in her favour, in that in the absence of legal assistance, she had been denied the basic human right of access to the law to seek a separation.
The outcome was that the government of the day was obliged to set up a civil legal aid and advice scheme. This was a landmark advance, granting access to the courts to people with lower incomes, who had not been in a position to pay for legal assistance. They had therefore been denied legal redress.
The main beneficiaries of her historic victory have been women with minimal incomes seeking the help of the law in their family problems.
Since the 1980s, we in AIM have been able to direct thousands of such women to the legal aid service which Josie Airey's courage and persistence brought into being.
May we extend our deepest sympathy and also our appreciation of their mother's achievement for the underprivileged, to her children. - Yours, etc.,
MARGARET ROCHE,
Chairwoman,
AIM Family Services,
D'Olier Street,
Dublin 2.