The Irish Refugee Council has informed the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform that from the end of this month it can no longer offer legal aid to asylum-seekers.
The council has provided an interim service of legal advice and assistance to asylum-seekers and refugees through its Refugee Legal Project. Initially it was part-funded by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and FAS, and more recently by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and FAS.
However, the council announced yesterday that, with the huge increase in the volume of asylum-seekers arriving in Ireland, it could no longer fulfil its commitment and responsibility to each of its clients, due to lack of proper funding from the State.
"Efforts to co-ordinate volunteer assistance have not been able to meet the huge demand, and in the council's view it would be wrong to continue where our service cannot meet the high standards of refugee protection work which is the right of each of our clients," the council said.
The free legal aid organisation, FLAC, supported this appeal, pointing out that at the moment the Department only offers legal representation to asylum-seekers at the appeal stage, when they have already made an application and been refused.
FLAC also questioned whether the retired civil servants and gardai, for which the Department of Justice recently advertised to assess applications, would have the necessary knowledge of human rights abuses in the refugees' countries of origin.
Mr Khalid Ibrahim, spokesman for the Association of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Ireland, said the collapse of the legal project was very painful for the refugee community.
The association called on the Government to meet its international obligations to provide independent legal aid, and on the Minister to state how he intended to provide it, he said.
There was no response from the Department of Justice last night.