At least eight calls a day from people experiencing domestic violence do not get answered by the Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac) because of a lack of capacity.
The agency’s telephone information and referral line provided legal information to 11,434 people last year.
Chief executive Eilis Barry said they only had the capacity to respond to 21 per cent of the estimated 53,103 calls received last year, which included about 2,000 in relation to domestic violence. Flac provides legal advice to people who could not otherwise afford it.
Launching the organisation’s annual report for 2024, Ms Barry pointed out that the Legal Aid Board receives €64.12m in funding. However, she added: “To put that in perspective, the State spends €99 million on the horse and greyhound industry.”
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She said it is “incredibly difficult to achieve change in the area of legal aid”, suggesting this is “due to a misperception that legal aid is about more money for lawyers”. Ms Barry said: “There’s a failure to view civil legal aid as the vital public service it is.”
The agency provided 3,731 legal advice consultations in 2024, a 14 per cent increase on 2023. The largest proportion of these consultations, 32.1 per cent, related to family law. Employment was second with 27.8 per cent of cases.
Flac also provided advice in several other areas including housing, landlord and tenant issues, will and probate matters, immigration, discrimination and neighbour disputes.
It is calling for legal representation to be available in claims before the Workplace Relations Commission, for social welfare appeals and for Rental Tenancies Board cases. This is currently not allowed under State-supported legal schemes. The agency noted instances of employees trying to represent themselves at WRC cases while employers hired legal teams.
It is also seeking special legal centres for the needs of groups such as the Traveller community. Its current service is “completely overrun with claims of discrimination and in relation to housing”, Ms Barry said.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said at the launch that he recognised the need for “further and greater resources in the civil legal aid scheme”. He pointed out that under Migrant Pact regulations, due to come into force next June, the State will need to increase funding “just to provide legal assistance or legal counselling for people that are going through the international protection process”.
He has received a Government-commissioned review of the system of legal aid and intends to publish both majority and minority reports shortly.
