Caller to flacireland advice service faced €20k costs in family law case as they narrowly missed means test
Many callers are trying to navigate the courts system alone and FLAC said it has nowhere to refer lay litigants. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie Many callers are trying to navigate the courts system alone and FLAC said it has nowhere to refer lay litigants. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.
Almost 30% of all queries to the phone line related to family law matters such as divorce, separation, domestic violence and custody and maintenance issues. Barry said many callers are trying to navigate the courts system alone and FLAC has nowhere to refer lay litigants who are “completely daunted by court forms and procedures”.“We also heard from callers contacting FLAC in situations where they had been served with legal proceedings but were facing many months of delay in being approved for legal aid,” she said.
“We are concerned that significantly more people are trying to get through and are unable to, despite our increasing staff and resources on the phone line. There has to be a better way to provide services that enable access to justice.”Last year FLAC also noted a steady increase in queries relating to housing matters, which were up over 9% on compared to 2020.
This service acted in three sets of Judicial Review proceedings relating to housing matters, two of which settled in favour of FLAC’s clients. This included proceedings in relation to a local authority’s failure to comply with its own Traveller Accommodation Programme.
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