Civil Legal Aid

FLAC is committed to promoting access to justice in Ireland through the state provision of an effective, accessible and sustainable system of civil legal aid. To this end, FLAC provides information on the state civil legal aid system and monitors its effectiveness and accessibility for people who need help accessing justice, holding the State to account on its responsibilities in this area.

FLAC continually campaigns to make the civil legal aid system in Ireland fairer and more accessible. We engage with the Legal Aid Board to promote a better and more efficient system.

We seek to vindicate the right to civil legal aid through strategic casework, the organisation of seminars for social justice organisations, training volunteers and other lawyers about the right to legal aid, and the use of data from FLAC’s legal information and advice services. We also strive to raise awareness of rights and entitlements to civil legal aid.

For decades, FLAC has highlighted issues related to delays in accessing legal aid and advice, lack of transparency in the appeals system and the waiver scheme.

The landmark Airey judgment in 1979 and the important recommendations contained in the 1977 Pringle Committee Report on Civil Legal Aid and Advice, unfortunately have not resulted in a fit-for-purpose legal aid system that reflects contemporary unmet legal needs. Our current system has many flaws including a very strict means test, long delays, and numerous exclusions. It does not for the most part provide legal aid in areas like homelessness, access to emergency accommodation, housing, social welfare, discrimination, debt – the sort of issues that FLAC deals with on a daily basis.

In July 2021, FLAC together with 44 other NGOs wrote to the Minister outlining FLAC’s asks for the review;

• It should be a root and branch review, comprehensive in scope and designed to map unmet legal need;
• It should explore the functions of the Legal Aid Board (including functions such as the provision of information, advocacy, education and research); the eligibility criteria for legal aid (including the means test, and financial contributions), the areas of law covered – discrimination, domestic violence, housing, sexual harassment; and the methods of service delivery (such as community law centres, targeted/specialised legal services for disadvantaged groups and individuals;
• It must be an independent review; and
• The review should be chaired by a person of status, such as a judge with an interest in access to justice (such as the original Pringle Committee).

Following FLAC’s successful campaign, the government established a review group in line with our recommendations in 2022. This is a very significant moment in the history of access to justice in Ireland. For over 50 years FLAC has been campaigning for a comprehensive legal aid system.

When the review group was established, FLAC was appointed as an NGO member to the review body.

This review is a golden opportunity to demonstrate the value of and invest in access to justice. We need to devise methods to measure and address unmet legal needs. Access to justice needs to be viewed as and treated as an essential service, not an add on when resources allow.

As part of this review work, FLAC is seeking for the legal aid system to be measured against domestic and international equality and human rights standards, to ensure compliance with the State’s obligations under equality and human rights law, including important international obligations on legal aid and access to environmental justice.

The review is a positive milestone on the road to a fairer and more equal society and FLAC look forward to participating in this review, and seeking to ensure that the voice of the individuals and communities experiencing poverty, disadvantage and exclusion are at the heart of this review.