Submission to the LRC for Possible Projects for Fifth Programme of Law Reform, 2017

The Law Reform Commission (LRC), when preparing its Fifth Programme for Law Reform and as part of that work, invited submissions on possible projects in areas of law that may be in need of reform and modernisation. In September 2017, Community Law & Mediation made a submission to that process.

Our submission suggested that the LRC undertake a project relating primarily to the concept of access to justice and carry out an in-depth analysis of the current Civil Legal Aid Scheme as set out in the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 with a view to examining whether the Scheme complies with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The submission also advocated for an analysis of issues specifically relating to access to justice namely; legal aid for those who lack sufficient resources; obstacles to access to justice for vulnerable groups and the provision of effective remedies at national level. CLM highlighted the need for such a project through examples of possible law reform in employment and equality, housing and finally social welfare law.

These suggestions for reform are all ultimately linked to the wider issue of access to justice and represent substantive, magnified versions of the wider project as advocated by CLM.

To read our submission in full, click here.