The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1995

A Report on the Activities of FLAC for 1995

I that individuals and teams are the key j to successful change in organisations." Dr. Eddie O'Connor, the recently appointed president of the IQA and ! Managing Director of Bord na Móna ! said: "It must be recognised that poor j quality costs as much as 20% of a company's sales revenue and that im- proved quality of goods and services goes hand-in-hand with improved productivity, lower costs and increased i profitability. Therefore,.strategic planning for quality, and quality im- provement programmes, through a commitment to excellence in manufacturing and services, are I becoming more and more essential to ! the well-being of our nation's economy". Each year, ten National Quality Awards are presented, eight Regional Awards for manufacturing and two Service Quality Awards. All current Quality Mark holders - approximately 351 - are in contention for an Award. THE PRACTICE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Invites suggestions regarding:- i • Topics for inclusion in the Practice Management Notes issued monthly. • Management videos and publications to be made available in Library. Telephone/fax:- Mr. C. MacDomhnaill/Ms. E. Barry, | The Law Society. Phone: 671 0711; Fax: 671 0704

The Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) celebrated the 25th anniversary of our services this year. The occasion was marked with a reception attended by President Mary Robinson. This was an opportunity to thank our friends, members and, in particular, volunteers from both the past and present. 1995 was also important in that the Minister for Equality and Law Reform published the long-awaited Civil Legal Aid Bill which purports to place the Scheme of Civil Legal Aid and Advice on a statutory basis. FLAC, together with the Coolock Community Law Centre, mounted a significant campaign to lobby for an extension of the scope of the Bill. FLAC met with legislators, gave evidence to Oireachtas committees, held public meetings and briefed the press. One of the main successes of this campaign was that test cases will no longer be excluded from the remit of the Legal Aid Board. Meanwhile, as always, the FLAC telephone helpline continued to provide the essential advice and referral service. In the period January to September 1995 we have already handled over 4,000 calls. Many more queries are dealt with by the volunteers in our 17 evening advice clinics throughout the Dublin and Cork areas. Moreover, there was great demand for our representation service for cases before the Employment Appeals Tribunal and Social Welfare Appeals Officers. While comprehensive statistics are not yet available for 1995, to date we have acted in over 30 such cases. In the area of social welfare, we continued to lobby for an independent appeals system for those claiming Supplementary Welfare Allowance similar to that available to those on

the mainstream social welfare payments. We were also in a position to begin to develop our work in the area of money advice. FLAC has always maintained an emphasis on the training of information givers and this year we were invited to participate in the National Social Service Board's nationwide training programme. FLAC provided trainers on different aspects of employment law, social welfare law and advocacy. Seminars were another feature of our training services in 1995. In January we held our annual labour law event, in conjunction with the union MSF, on sexual harassment, the Transfer of Undertakings Directive and the Maternity Protection Act, 1994. In May there was a major conference on the consequences of divorce, with speakers examining pension legislation, property and social welfare issues and the effects on children. More recently, in response to requests from the volunteers, the topics were a practical guide to family law in Ireland and civil legal aid. Publications remained a large part of our work. At present, work is being finalised on the fifth title in our series of guides to social welfare payments, namely "A Guide to Sickness Payments". Furthermore, our leaflet "Know Your Rights" is going into a second edition this year. FLAC has an essential role to play in the provision of legal services to those unable to afford private practitioners. This work requires the encouragement and help of the legal profession. The ongoing support of solicitors is greatly heartening to us and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for continuing to assist in 1995.

ENGLISH AGENTS: Agency work undertaken for Irish Solicitors in both litigation and non-contentious matters - including legal aid. Fearon & Co., Solicitors, Westminster House, 12 The Broadway, Woking, Surrey GU21 5AU.

Tel: 0044 - 1483 - 726272 Fax: 0044 - 1483 - 725807

Sabha Green, Administrator

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