Current Campaigns
21st century law needed for 21st century over-indebtedness!
Ireland has a 21st century consumer credit market with a 19th century debt enforcement system. FLAC is working to ensure that these laws are reformed, in order to provide consumers and their dependants with a dignified and effective way of dealing with debt that will be fair to the consumer, the creditor and the taxpayer alike.
Tri-City Project on Special Non-Contributory Benefits for EU Migrants
FLAC has partnered with the AIRE Centre in London, and Lize Glass, legal consultant and former AIRE intern, in Amsterdam, in an EU Commission-funded Tri-City project on EU migrants' access to special non-contributory benefits. The overall aim of this project is to improve the information that EU migrants in Amsterdam, Dublin and London have about their right to access special non-contributory benefits.
Consumer credit - time to better protect consumer interests!
FLAC is campaigning to protect consumers from the worst excesses of the market by ensuring that the provision of credit is responsible, transparent and affordable. Comprehensive state-funded systems of money advice and civil legal aid are also needed to back up these protections.
Direct Provision campaign
Direct provision is a scheme whereby asylum seekers and people seeking other forms of protection are provided with accommodation on a full board basis with all their basic needs apparently provided for directly. Direct provision residents receive a weekly payment of €19.10 for an adult and €9.60 for a child. In November 1999 direct provision and dispersal was introduced as a pilot scheme to alleviate a housing shortage in the Eastern Health Board area. In April 2000 it was implemented as a national scheme and ten years later it remains in place. FLAC has opposed the direct provision and dispersal scheme since its inception.
Campaign for fairness in social welfare decisions on HRC
Growing from an earlier campaign, FLAC has been working to clarify how social welfare law is applied. We had become concerned that entire groups were being excluded from qualifying for payments. A number of positive decisions have made the situation clearer, such as around the Habitual Residence Condition, however FLAC will continue to monitor the way in which the law in the area is applied.
Legal Aid Campaign
FLAC campaigns for a comprehensive civil legal aid service. Civil legal aid is different from criminal legal aid, which is available to all those who meet certain criteria. In Ireland, state civil legal aid is provided through the Legal Aid Board. FLAC has provided information and advice to those in need since 1969.