The chief executive of FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) says that demand for its services last year points to “nothing less than a civil legal-aid crisis”.
FLAC promotes access to justice through its helpline, clinics, casework, targeted legal services, and policy and law-reform work.
Eilis Barry was speaking as FLAC’s annual report showed that its helpline received a record 539 queries related to domestic violence last year.
Overall, its phoneline received an estimated 53,103 calls during opening hours during 2024, though it has the capacity to deal with only around one-fifth of these queries.
Family law was the area in which FLAC received most queries – 3,180 out of a total of 11,435.
The phoneline also answered 2,341 employment-law queries. FLAC says that queries about grievance procedures, dismissal, bullying or harassment, and discrimination were all higher than in any previous year.
FLAC’s volunteer lawyers provided legal advice to 3,731 people last year, with a 14% increase in employment-law queries.
“As a small NGO [non-governmental organisation], we cannot begin to meet this demand, but the ways in which we work provide a blueprint for a new era of civil legal aid in this country,” said Barry.
Referring to a perception reform of civil legal aid was about “more money for lawyers”, the FLAC chief executive said that this ignored the very high cost of not providing legal aid to children, families, and...
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