Family Rights Advocacy Course- QQI Level 6

This course gives a basic understanding of the Irish legal system and family law in relation to advocacy in Ireland. Learners will develop an awareness of the main features of family law and understand how legislation impacts on relationship while becoming familiar with the legal language, procedures, and court documents relevant to the family law area. Learners will develop their advocacy skills and the ability to apply what they have learned to the workplace.  This course will cover any new legislation regarding family law in Ireland.


Participants who successfully complete this course will be able to:

  • Outline definitions of family to include those in Irish Legislation
  • Identify the functions of the Irish Courts in relation to families
  • Outline the rights, entitlements, services and supports available to families
  • Discuss current issues in relation to rights, entitlements, services and supports available to families.

Research information relevant to families to include rights entitlements and available supports.
 
Payment 
The cost of this course is €650.00 to be paid in full before the course commences (10% discount for CLM Members).
 
Trainers and Accreditation
This course is run by Community Law & Mediation & Ballymun Community Law Centre. This course is QQI accredited in conjunction with Irish National Organisation of the Unemployment (provider code 380460).
 
Location
This course will take place in in The Horizons Centre, Balcurris Road, Ballymun.


Date & Times
This course will run on a Monday for 12 weeks starting on Monday 6 March 2023 from 10am to 2pm each week.

This course gives a basic understanding of the Irish legal system and family law in relation to advocacy in Ireland. Learners will develop an awareness of the main features of family law and understand how legislation impacts on relationship while becoming familiar with the legal language, procedures, and court documents relevant to the family law area. Learners will develop their advocacy skills and the ability to apply what they have learned to the workplace.  This course will cover any new legislation regarding family law in Ireland.


Participants who successfully complete this course will be able to:

  • Outline definitions of family to include those in Irish Legislation
  • Identify the functions of the Irish Courts in relation to families
  • Outline the rights, entitlements, services and supports available to families
  • Discuss current issues in relation to rights, entitlements, services and supports available to families.

Research information relevant to families to include rights entitlements and available supports.
 
Payment 
The cost of this course is €650.00 to be paid in full before the course commences (10% discount for CLM Members).
 
Trainers and Accreditation
This course is run by Community Law & Mediation & Ballymun Community Law Centre. This course is QQI accredited in conjunction with Irish National Organisation of the Unemployment (provider code 380460).
 
Location
This course will take place in The Horizons Centre, Balcurris Road, Ballymun.


Date & Times
This course will run on a Monday for 12 weeks starting on Monday 6 March 2023 from 10am to 2pm each week.

Your Details

* Mandatory fields

CLM Housing Law / Prevention of Homelessness Training Course

This training course will examine the law relating to homelessness in Ireland – what is the State’s obligations to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

This course will look at social housing supports, the application process, and the scheme of allocations. It will explain tenancy rights, evictions, what constitutes an unlawful eviction, and how this can be challenged.

The main outcomes will be:

  • The prevention of homelessness for individuals and families who are at risk of losing their home.
  • Empowerment of individuals to advocate on their own behalf in respect of their housing and tenancy rights.
  • Up-skill other advocacy services and organisations in housing and tenancy rights.

Location
This course is a one-day course split over two half days on Zoom.

Cost

€200

Dates

  • Tuesday 7th Feb from 10am to 1pm
  • Friday 10th Feb from 10am to 1pm

For an application form click here or fill in the booking form below.

For more information please email education. 

Your Details

* Mandatory fields

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

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.

Community Law & Mediation calls upon Irish government to include recommendations in 2023 Climate Action Plan  

Community Law & Mediation’s Centre for Environmental Justice issues 8 recommendations to government, ahead of the publication of the highly anticipated 2023 Climate Action Plan.

Today Community Law & Mediation sent an open letter to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Communications, Eamon Ryan. The letter calls upon the Government to align the forthcoming Climate Action Plan 2023 with Ireland’s legal obligations on climate change, while addressing the energy crisis and safeguarding marginalised communities.

The recommendations are supported by 19 partner organisations working in the area of environmental and social justice. The six-page letter sets out science-based recommendations which the Irish government should include in the 2023 Climate Action Plan. A summary of these recommendations is:

Holding all sectors accountable in meeting Ireland’s legally-binding 2021-2025 carbon budget:

The organisations are calling for the government to ensure the immediate implementation of Ireland’s 2021-2025 carbon budget, the inclusion of all sectors in the Sectoral Emissions Ceilings, and the publication of the Long-Term Climate Action Strategy in accordance with EU and national law.

  • One-third of Ireland’s legally-binding five-year carbon budget period (2021-2025) has already passed, yet Ireland’s emissions rose by 5% last year and may increase in 2022.
  • Not all sectors are included within the carbon budget framework – most notably, “Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry,” and Aviation and Shipping. The total amount of greenhouse gases across all sectors therefore cannot be assessed, and there is no certainty that Ireland will meet its firstlegally binding carbon budget.
  • Ireland is one of only four countries that has failed to produce a Long-Term Climate Action Strategy and the European Commission recently issued a formal notice to Ireland as the Strategy is now more than two and a half years overdue.

Addressing the energy crisis:

Energy poverty is at its highest recorded rate in Ireland. The organisations are calling upon the Irish government to implement measures in the Climate Action Plan 2023 to eradicate both energy poverty and energy pollution, such as, doubling the Fuel Allowance Scheme and broadening its eligibility criteria, retrofitting Ireland’s entire social housing stock this decade, introducing a new caravan rental scheme which incorporates BER equivalent efficiency standards and providing free and reliable public transport across Ireland. In addition, the organisations are calling for the current moratorium on Liquefied Natural Gas and fracked gas imports, to be made permanent through legislation, alongside an immediate moratorium on the development of data centres until an assessment of what is needed to meet the carbon budget from 2021-2025 is carried out.

Safeguarding vulnerable communities in the transition to a completely decarbonised society:

In Ireland, the top 10% of the population contributed about one third of the cumulative carbon emissions between 1990 and 2015. Low-income households and marginalised groups who are least responsible for the climate crisis are at risk of being most impacted by both climate change and climate action. The organisations are therefore calling for the Climate Action Plan 2023 to address inequality and ensure that the cost of climate mitigation and adaptation measures do not fall on marginalised and vulnerable groups.

In addition, the Irish government must immediately establish a National Just Transition Commission, in advance of formal legislation, based on social dialogue and comprised of representatives of government, trade unions, employers, affected communities and civil society. The aim of this is to ensure that affected workers and communities are not left behind in the transition to a completely decarbonised economy and society.

Clodagh Daly, Community Law & Mediation’s Centre for Environmental Justice Manager, said: “It is imperative that the Irish government commits to deep and sustained reductions in emissions in the Climate Action Plan 2023. Action must be consistent with our legally-binding 2021-2025 carbon budget and must aim to actively address inequality and energy poverty, such as retrofitting our entire social housing stock this decade and providing free and reliable public transport across Ireland. As part of this, the establishment of the Just Transition Commission must be accelerated. We must ensure that everyone in Ireland – and worldwide – can live a decent life within a fully decarbonised society.”

Martin Collins, Co-Director of Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre, said: “Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre endorses this call on the Government to strengthen the Climate Action Plan 2023. It is well documented that the effects of the climate crisis are inextricably linked with existing social and economic inequalities. For example, a 2019 report from Traveller MABS on energy poverty found that Travellers are 9 times more likely to go without heat than members of the general population. We urge the Government to include and consider the voices of ethnic minority groups – including Travellers and Roma – in any policy relating to climate action and a just transition.”

Michelle Murphy, Research and Policy Analyst with Social Justice Ireland, stated: “One of the fundamental principles of a Just Transition is to leave no people, communities, economic sectors or regions behind as we transition to a low carbon future.  There is enough money in the economy to begin to implement the Climate Action Plan, secure our energy infrastructure, and ensure a just transition to a green economy.  This would also mean, emission reductions, and the creation of a vibrant society and economy.”

Ciara Brennan, Director of Environmental Justice Network Ireland, said: “Ireland must stop planning to fail when it comes to climate action. An ambitious Climate Action Plan for 2023 must be linked to a robust and credible national long-term strategy, which is required to meet domestic and EU obligations, and which will give direction to all domestic level climate plans and policies. A clear plan for how to get to our end destination is crucial in order to protect Ireland from economic shocks amidst the energy and cost of living crises and will allow the true cost of decisions being made now around climate action to be seen within the long-term context.”

The 2023 Climate Action Plan is due to be published by the Irish government before January 2023. CAP23 will outline the detailed plan in the year ahead to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2024.

ENDS

For more information, contact Fodhla O’Connell-Grennell at Community Law & Mediation, on  FOconnell@CommunityLawAndMediation.ie

To read the full open letter sent to Minister Eamon Ryan, please click here.

Partner organisations include: An Taisce, Friends of the Earth, Social Justice Ireland, TASC, Action Aid, Environmental Justice Network Ireland, Irish Heart Foundation, Friends of the Irish Environment, The Irish Traveller Movement, The Northside Partnership, Age Action, The Climate and Health Alliance, Futureproof Clare, Galway Public Participation Network, Pavee Point, INOU, The Asthma Society and Safety Before LNG.

Link to additional quotes: HERE.

Link to organisation logos: HERE.

Editor Notes:

Community Law & Mediation are calling on the government to ensure that the Climate Action Plan 2023 provides the following:

  1. The immediate implementation of Ireland’s 2021-2025 carbon budget.
  2. The inclusion of all sectors in the Sectoral Emissions Ceilings.
  3. The publication of the Long-Term Climate Action Strategy in accordance with EU and national law.
  4. Measures to address inequality.
  5. Measures to Address the Energy Crisis.
  6. Halt New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure and Withdraw Existing Licenses from Fossil Fuel Companies.
  7. Introduce a moratorium on new data centres.
  8. Ensure a Just Transition.

Community Law & Mediation:

Community Law & Mediation (CLM), previously known as Coolock Community Law Centre, was established on 1 April 1975, as the first, independent, community-based law centre in Ireland. In 2012, we opened a second community law centre in Limerick.

CLM works to empower individuals experiencing disadvantages through:

  • Free legal information, advice and representation;
  • Free mediation and conflict coaching;
  • Information and education; and
  • Advocating for Change

Centre for Environmental Justice:

CLM’s Centre for Environmental Justice was launched by Mary Robinson in February 2021 and is the first of its kind in Ireland.

CEJ offers free legal advice and representation, provides community education and training, and advocates for a rights-based approach to policy and law reform in the area of environmental justice.

What are carbon budgets?

A carbon budget represents the total amount of emissions that may be emitted in the State during a five-year period, measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is calculated on an economy-wide basis.

As part of its work, the Climate Change Advisory Council is responsible for proposing three five-year economy-wide carbon budgets, covering the periods 2021-2025, 2026-2030 and 2031-2035, to assist the State in achieving its national climate objectives and greenhouse gas emissions targets agreed by the European Union.

The first three carbon budgets cover the following five-year periods: 2021 to 2025, 2026 to 2030, and 2031 to 2035 (although the budget for the third period is provisional). All greenhouse gas emissions and all relevant sectors are included in the carbon budgets.

They are as follows:

  • 2021-2025: 295 Mt CO2 eq. an average of -4.8% for the first budget period.
  • 2026-2030: 200 Mt CO2 eq. an average of -8.3% for the second budget period.
  • 2031-2035: 151 Mt CO2 eq. an average of -3.5% for the third provisional budget.

What are Sectoral Emissions Ceilings?

Sectoral Emissions Ceilings are the maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are permitted in each sector of the economy during the carbon budget period.

 

The Right to Education- Supporting Families & Children

This half day course on zoom will cover the following areas – 

  • The law relating to education,  
  • Non-discrimination in education, 
  • School admissions, 
  • Schools’ code of behaviour,  
  • Suspension and expulsion by schools, 
  • Section 29 appeals to the Dept of Education, 
  • Use of reduced hours/ short day by a school for individual children, 
  • Bullying and cyber-bullying. 

Date: 15 Nov 2022  

Time: 2.30pm to 5pm 

Location: Zoom 

Cost: €150 

For an application form click here. Please send you application forms to email: education@communitylawandmediation.ie 

Your Details

* Mandatory fields

CLM Housing Law / Prevention of Homelessness Training Course 

This training course will examine the law relating to homelessness in Ireland – what is the State’s obligations to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 
 
This course will look at Social Housing supports, the application process and the scheme of allocations. It will explain tenancy rights, evictions, what constitutes an unlawful eviction, and how can this be challenged?  
 
The main outcomes will be: 

  • the prevention of homelessness for individuals and families who are at risk of losing their home; 
  • empowerment of individuals to advocate on their own behalf in respect of their housing and tenancy rights 
  • to up-skill other advocacy services and organisations in the area of housing and tenancy rights. 

Location This course is a one-day course split over 2 ½   days on Zoom 
 

Cost €200 


Date: Wednesday 2nd November and Friday 4th November. 

Times 10am to 1pm on both days  

For an application form click here. Please send you application forms to   please email education@communitylawandmediation.ie  

Blog – Budget 2023: focus now must be on the Energy Poverty Action Plan and a long-term strategy to alleviate energy poverty while also meeting our climate targets

With short-term relief very much the priority in Tuesday’s Budget, the focus must now  be on delivering structural change through the Energy Poverty Action Plan and the Climate Action Plan 2023, both due to be published shortly.  Long-term solutions to the energy and climate crises must be delivered, centring on the needs of low-income households, tenants, rural dwellers and the Traveller community.

The Economic and Social Research Institute estimates that 43% of households could now be in energy poverty. The energy poverty crisis is compounded by the fact that almost half (48%) of Ireland’s housing stock is energy inefficient, with poorly insulated homes locked into fossil fuel dependence. Our damp and energy inefficient housing stock accounts for almost one-fifth of Ireland’s carbon emissions, with Irish homes being 60% more energy-intensive than the average EU home. While the measures introduced in yesterday’s Budget will provide some short-term relief from increasing energy prices, much more is needed to ensure low-income households, tenants, rural dwellers, and the Traveller community in particular can enjoy warm homes and low energy bills. The failure to increase the fuel allowance scheme in Budget 2023 puts increased pressure on households already experiencing energy poverty, and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Ireland’s Energy Poverty Strategy lapsed in 2019, creating a vacuum in accountability and in long-term planning and policy in relation to energy poverty and leaving many in our society exposed to the latest energy price shocks. In the forthcoming Energy Poverty Action Plan, it is essential that  low income households, tenants, rural dwellers and the Traveller community are protected  in relation to both energy poverty and climate challenges.

The Action Plan must be rooted in a rights-based approach to ensure that – through consultation and collaboration with relevant anti-poverty, housing, health, community, social justice and human rights bodies – it is poverty and equality proofed. Access to adequate levels of energy is a precondition to the realisation of many rights impacting our lives, health and living standards.

Our submission on the Energy Poverty Action Plan can be read in full here and calls for the following:

  • Double the Fuel Allowance rate from €33 to €66 and widen the eligibility for the Fuel Allowance by including those receiving Working Family Payment and those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance for less than one year.
  • The retrofit of Ireland’s entire social housing stock to a B2 standard this decade
  • A tailored retrofit plan for the Private Rental Sector with clear milestones, targets and funding. Also, introduce new grants for deep retrofits for landlords in the private rental sector on the condition that long-term leases and rent control are guaranteed to tenants
  • Targeted measures to ensure that low-income households, tenants, rural dwellers, and the Traveller community can avail of energy upgrades and SEAI grants
  • A dedicated retrofitting programme for households solely relying on solid fuel heating systems, as recommended by @irishrurallink
  • Deployment of Local Community Energy Advisors throughout every local authority to engage and inform people who would most benefit from energy efficiency upgrades, as recommended by @SVPIreland
  • Acceleration of the phase-out of fossil fuels and prioritisation of Energy Efficiency: The Review of Ireland’s Energy Poverty Strategy recognises the “growing connection between alleviating energy poverty and achieving national climate action objectives”
  • Regulation of energy pricing: Provide for the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to remove standing charges on energy bills and to ensure all energy providers allocate the lowest energy rate to all their users.
  • Consistency with Climate Justice: We recommend that the new Energy Poverty Strategy prioritises win-win climate action policies that help address inequality and ensure that the cost of climate mitigation and adaptation measures does not fall unfairly on marginalised and vulnerable groups
  • Nationalisation of the Energy System: Consider nationalising Ireland’s energy system to facilitate the just development of efficient, clean energy for the public good.
  • Place the Energy Poverty Action Plan on a statutory footing to ensure policy coherence and a whole-of-government approach. To ensure accountability and long-term political commitment towards the eradication of energy poverty, the Action Plan should commit to delivering an Energy Poverty Act in 2023.

 

Irish Times article 22 September – Chief Justice supports extension of free legal advice centres throughout the country

This article highlights Community Law & Mediation’s 10th anniversary in Limerick and our calls for reform of the Civil Legal Aid Scheme and means test to access legal aid. The event was attended by Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell.

Read the article in full here:

Chief Justice supports extension of free legal advice centres throughout the country – Irish Times 22 September 2022

RTE News 21st September – Calls for reform of ‘outdated’ civil legal aid scheme

This article highlights Community Law & Mediation’s 10th anniversary in Limerick and our calls for reform of the Civil Legal Aid Scheme and means test to access legal aid. The event was attended by Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell.

Read the article in full here:

Chief Justice supports extension of free legal advice centres throughout the country – Irish Times 22 September 2022

Preparing for the Climate Action Plan 2023 – webinar recording

We were delighted to be joined on Wednesday 7th September by Prof Barry McMullin, DCU and Dr Louise Fitzgerald, Maynooth University for a webinar on the Climate Action Plan 2023.

Have your say in Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2023:

The Call for Expert Evidence 2022 – to support and inform the next Climate Action Plan – is open for submissions until 5.30 pm on Tuesday 20th September.

The Climate Conversation is also open for submissions. In the online questionnaire, open until 9th September, people can give their views on shopping, reuse and recycling, food and food waste, heating our homes and sustainable living, local environment and climate change. People can also have their say on how actions in these areas – by individuals, Government and society as a whole – can positively impact our climate goals.

 

Find out more about Community Law & Mediation, our Centre for Environmental Justice and how our services can help you here.