Category: Equality

Free Legal Advice Clinics Limerick – dates and locations

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Our new free legal advice clinic schedule for 2026 provides more frequent and convenient access to free legal advice for people living in Limerick.

New weekly phone clinic

We are pleased to introduce a new weekly phone clinic,making it easier to access legal advice when you need it. Appointments are 20 minutes long and take place over the phone with a qualified lawyer.

We provide independent confidential advice on a wide range of matters, including homelessness, housing, education, employment, debt and social welfare.

Appointments must be booked in advance – call 061 536 100 or fill in our online booking form.

Bi-monthly face-to-face clinic

In-person appointments are available bi-monthly in the following areas: Ballinacurra Weston, Moyross, Southill and St Mary’s Park.

These clinics are by appointment only. Appointments can be booked by calling 061 536 100 or through our online booking form.

Upcoming dates and locations (please note, this is not a walk-in service, all consultations are on an appointment only basis):

July

Moyross Community Enterprise CentreTuesday 14th July 202610:30am-12:00pm
Phone ClinicThursday 16th July 2026
10:30am-12:00pm
Novas Limerick, Mungret Street, LimerickTuesday 21st July 2026
10:30am-12:00pm
Southill Community HubWednesday 22nd July 202610:30am-12:00pm

August

Our Lady of Lourdes Community Centre, Ballinacurra WestonTuesday 11th August 202610:30am-12:00pm
Novas Limerick,
Mungret Street, Limerick		Tuesday 18th August 202610:30am-12:00pm
Phone ClinicThursday 20th August 202610:30am-12:00pm
St. Mary’s Alms HouseTuesday 25th August 2026
10:30am-12:00pm

September

Phone Clinic Thursday 3rd September 202610:30am-12:00pm
Moyross Community Enterprise CentreThursday 8th September 202610:30am-12:00pm
Southill Community HubWednesday 16th September 202610:30am-12:00pm
Novas Limerick,
Mungret Street, Limerick		Tuesday 22nd September 202610:30am-12:00pm

This service is free and available to people living in the regeneration areas & to residents of other underserved areas within Limerick City.

Please be aware that dates and times can be subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.

Phone: 061 536 100

Email: info@communitylawandmediation.ie

Community Law and Mediation and The Bar of Ireland Launch Podcast Series on the Evolution and Future of Community Law

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The Bar of Ireland’s Voluntary Assistance Scheme (VAS), in collaboration with Community Law & Mediation (CLM), is pleased to announce a new three‑part podcast series exploring the past, present and future of community law in Ireland.

Jointly hosted by Aoife Kelly Desmond, CEO of CLM, and Gemma McLoughlin Burke BL, Co-ordinator of the VAS, the series highlights the longstanding collaboration between barristers and community law organisations.

Episode 1 — The Origins of Community Law in Ireland

The opening episode traces the beginnings of the community law movement, from the early civil legal aid campaigns to the establishment of Ireland’s first community law centre. The conversation reflects on the significant contribution of practitioners who, from the outset, played a key role in advancing legal rights through advocacy, research, and voluntary support.

Guest contributors include:

  • Eilis Barry, CEO of FLAC
  • Professor Gerry Whyte, Trinity College Dublin

Check out the full recording of the podcast in full below:

Episode 2 — Justice from the Ground Up: The Practice of Community Law

This episode examines the frontline reality of community law today, from casework and mediation to public interest litigation and strategic campaigns. It also highlights how barristers continue to contribute essential expertise, supporting both individual clients and broader law reform efforts through the Voluntary Assistance Scheme.

Guest contributors:

  • Jane O’Sullivan, Managing Solicitor, CLM
  • Alan Brady SC, The Bar of Ireland

Check out the full recording of the podcast in full below:

Episode 3 — The Future of Community Law

The concluding episode considers the evolving legal needs of communities, including areas such as children’s law, housing, and environmental justice. It also looks at shaping the next phase of community law, particularly within a reformed civil legal aid system.

Guest contributors:

  • Claire McSweeney, Manager, Ballymun Community Law Centre
  • Éamonn Conlon SC, Chair of Community Law & Mediation

CLM Launches New Report “Community Mediation in Ireland: Unmet Need, Delivery Challenges and Emerging Opportunities”

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Today we launch a new report exploring how community mediation can better meet the needs of communities across Ireland.

The report highlights the significant but untapped potential of community mediation to prevent and resolve disputes in areas such as neighbour and wider family conflicts, as well as issues affecting young people, Travellers, refugees and new communities. It shows that mediation has the greatest impact when it is integrated with other services and tailored to the specific needs of the participants.

The report sets out practical recommendations to expand and diversify mediation services, improve access across Ireland, safeguard vulnerable parties and ensure community mediation is supported and resourced on an equal footing with family and commercial mediation.

Written by Dr Heidi Riley, Adjunct Research Fellow at University College Dublin, this research was commissioned by Community Law & Mediation and funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).

We are grateful to IHREC and to all those who shared their experiences and insights throughout this process.

Read the report below.

Download PDF
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Community Law & Mediation’s Annual Report 2024

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2024 was a year of progress for Community Law & Mediation, as we continued our mission to provide free, accessible legal, mediation and education services to individuals and communities facing exclusion and inequality.

Our Annual Report 2024 highlights the launch of our new five-year Strategic Plan, the growth of our work in environmental and children’s law, and our ongoing advocacy for systemic change in housing, social welfare, employment and access to justice across the board.

Each figure and initiative within this report reflects the lived experiences of those we support and our collective effort to advance equality and access to justice.

Guided by our mission to empower communities, tackle underlying injustice and exclusion, and advance rights-based changes in public policy and law – This report reflects both the scale and scope of our work to ensure access to justice for all.

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The Centre for Environmental Justice response to the European Commission’s proposed 2040 target for carbon emissions reductions

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Carbon credits are not a fast or cost-effective solution to Europe’s need to decarbonise.

We call on the EU to continue its practice of achieving its binding climate targets domestically for the 2040 goal, as enshrined in the EU Climate law, for the 2030 target and for the 2050 climate neutrality goal.

Check out our full response to the European European Commission’s proposed 2040 target below.

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New Health, Home and Your Environment Free Information and Advice Clinic – The Centre for Environmental Justice

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Are harmful environmental issues impacting the health and safety of you, your home or community?

As the person experiencing an environmental harm, you are best placed to diagnose the issue.  

Pollution in the environment or climate-related events can have an impact on our health. Health impacts of environmental stressors include cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses, and cancers. In contrast, living in a safe and healthy home and having access to green spaces contributes to our physical and mental wellbeing. 

Community Law & Mediation, your local community law centre, is running a free information and advice clinic on how to address environmental harms and protect biodiversity.   

This clinic is for your concerns about: 

  • The quality of the air you breathe inside your home and outdoors 
  • Water quality in your home  
  • Water pollution in your local area (rivers, lakes, groundwater, and the coast) 
  • Biodiversity loss in your local area and access to green space  
  • Illegal dumping  
  • The impacts of climate change affecting you and your community  

Our new Health, Home and Your Environment free information and advice clinic aims to empower you with the information needed to act for a just solution that ensures the health of you, your home, and your community.  

Book into the clinic by filling out this online booking form. 

(Ensure your place! – Please mention our new environmental clinic within the booking form)

Air and Water Quality 

Our clinic could be helpful if: 

  • Your local area has bad outdoor air quality from traffic, solid fuel burning, or industrial burning 
  • Your home has poor indoor air quality 
  • You have been advised not to drink your tap water without first boiling the water 
  • You are concerned that local groundwater, rivers, lakes, or coastal waters are polluted 
  • There is illegal dumping in your neighbourhood 

Energy Costs and Dampness

Our clinic could be helpful if: 

  • You are concerned about climate change  
  • There is biodiversity loss in your local area, and you want to protect nature.  
  • You want to ensure that your community has access to green space, and that such areas are protected. 
  • You have experienced the effects of climate change in the form of storms, flooding, erosion, or other damage to your home or property 

Climate and Biodiversity  

Our clinic could be helpful if: 

  • You are concerned about climate change  
  • There is biodiversity loss in your local area, and you want to protect nature.  
  • You want to ensure that your community has access to green space, and that such areas are protected. 
  • You have experienced the effects of climate change in the form of storms, flooding, erosion, or other damage to your home or property 

Book into the clinic by filling out this online booking form. 

(Ensure your place! – Please mention our new environmental clinic within the booking form)

If you would like to help us spread the word about this new clinic, you can download and share the flyer below, or share our social media posts! 

You can help us spread the word by sharing our LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky or Instagram posts.

Town Hall Meeting on the Planning and Development Bill 2023 and Proposed changes to Judicial Review (Online)

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Calling all citizens, residents’ associations, community and environmental groups!

Join us to find out more about how changes to judicial review will impact you!

Community Law & Mediation invites you to an online Town Hall meeting on the Planning and Development Bill 2023 on Tuesday 6th February 7.30-8.30pm.

Hear from legal experts, resident’s associations and environmental groups on the proposed changes to judicial review (in Part 9 of the Bill), and the impact that they will have on how citizens, residents’ associations, community and environmental groups engage with the planning system and challenge planning decisions which affect their communities and the environment.

The Bill is currently progressing through the Oireachtas, with Committee Stage expected to commence in February.

We hope you can attend, and we look forward to hearing your views!

Agenda

  • Introduction: What is Part 9 of the Planning and Development Bill, and how does it impact you? Gavin Elliott, Environmental Justice Lawyer at Community Law & Mediation.

  • Residents’ associations and environmental groups: Why the judicial review process is important, experiences of taking a judicial review, and the impact of the proposed changes: Robin Mandal, Chairperson of the Dublin Democratic Planning Alliance. Mary O’Leary, Chairperson of Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment.

  • Conclusion: A call to action Rose Wall, CEO of Community Law & Mediation.

Please click here to register for this event.

We would be most grateful if you could share the below post, and others shared on social media in coming days with your networks.

Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram

Who are we?

Community Law & Mediation is an independent community law centre and charity, working since 1975 with communities impacted by social exclusion, disadvantage and inequality, through the provision of free legal, mediation and education services.

In 2021, we opened the Centre for Environmental Justice, which works to ensure climate change and other environmental harms do not disproportionately affect those who have contributed least to the problem, and that the State’s response to environmental challenges addresses inequality and protects the rights of present and future generations.

Pilot scheme a welcome development for equality in education for students with visual impairments

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Community Law & Mediation (CLM) welcomes the decision by the State Examinations Commission to commence a pilot scheme enabling visually-impaired students to access digital versions of their exam papers.

The decision was made on foot of a lengthy campaign by Eithne Walsh, head of advocacy and communication with Féach, whose son is a visually impaired student and is due to sit the Leaving Certificate in 2023.

Eithne and her son had repeatedly requested that he be provided with a digital copy of his Leaving Certificate examination – to date, only paper-based exams have been allowed – but their requests were refused by the State Examinations Commission (SEC). CLM provided legal advocacy support to the family, and wrote to the SEC highlighting the fact that that it was acting in breach of its statutory duty under s.6 and s.7 of the Education Act 1998 and that its refusal to provide reasonable accommodation was a breach of the student’s rights to equality, education, and his imprescriptible rights as a child.

While the announcement of a pilot scheme is really positive news, this addresses just one of the many obstacles faced by students with visual impairments. For example, they do not currently have the same level of access to past (modified) papers that their fellow students have; the format of the oral examinations is particularly challenging for students who are visually impaired;  and decisions made under the Reasonable Accommodations at Certificate Examinations (RACE) Scheme are often published at short notice, leaving the students affected with little time to appeal if they do not get the supports they need under the Scheme.

Community Law & Mediation will continue to advocate on behalf of families and young people who are affected by issues such as these.

If you have a query related to the education rights of your child, contact us for free legal advice: 01 847 7804.

Launch of new guides to taking Employment Equality and Equal Status cases

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On Wednesday 5th May 2021, we launched two new guides to taking Employment Equality and Equal Status cases. We were delighted to be joined by Roderic O`Gorman TD, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and a panel of speakers including Suzy Byrne of the National Advocacy Service; Reuben Hambakachere of Cultur Migrants Centre; Eileen Flynn, Senator and activist on behalf of members of the Traveller community; and Jane O`Sullivan, Managing Solicitor at CLM, specialising in Employment & Equality law.

If you missed it, you can watch the event back here! or access the guides here

 

 

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