Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Rotherham Police Sexually Abused Us Too, Say Five Grooming Victims Wed Jul 30, 2025 15:00 | Richard Eldred
Just when you think the rape gang scandal can't get worse, five Rotherham victims say police officers abused them too ? claims currently being investigated by South Yorkshire Police itself, sparking fears of a whitewash.
The post Rotherham Police Sexually Abused Us Too, Say Five Grooming Victims appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Online Safety Act is a Censor?s Charter Wed Jul 30, 2025 13:00 | Andrew Doyle
We were assured by Conservative and Labour politicians that the Online Safety Act was designed to protect children. In the last few days, its real, more sinister purpose has become, writes Andrew Doyle.
The post The Online Safety Act is a Censor?s Charter appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Political Censors Have Cynically Hijacked Vital Child Protections Wed Jul 30, 2025 11:00 | Toby Young
Andrew Orlinski in the Telegraph says the Online Safety Act has less to do with protecting children than suppressing populist political sentiment.
The post Political Censors Have Cynically Hijacked Vital Child Protections appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Edinburgh University?s Decolonisation Report is Pure Left-Wing Politics Wed Jul 30, 2025 09:00 | James Alexander
Edinburgh University's 'Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University of Edinburgh?s History and Legacies of Enslavement and Colonialism,' is Left-wing politics of the worst kind, says Professor James Alexander.
The post Edinburgh University’s Decolonisation Report is Pure Left-Wing Politics appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Trump Was Right to Skewer Starmer Over Britain?s ?Windmills Scam? Wed Jul 30, 2025 07:00 | Ben Pile
Trump was right to skewer Starmer over Britain's "windmills scam" when he met him in Scotland this week, says Ben Pile. It was a cringefest worthy of The Office, but Starmer can't afford to ignore the President?s warning.
The post Trump Was Right to Skewer Starmer Over Britain’s “Windmills Scam” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’

category national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release author Monday June 29, 2020 23:28author by foie - Friends of the Irish Environment Report this post to the editors

Press Release - Friends of the Irish Environment 29th June 2020

Legal Aid Board refusal to fund environmental NGO faces High Court challenge
Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’

The High Court will tomorrow [June 30] hear a two-day challenge to the Legal Aid Board’s refusal to provide legal aid to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE].

The NGO sought the funding in April of 2018 to support its Judicial Review of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework. This case alleges that the Government of Ireland erred in law in failing to adequately fulfil its obligations under the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Habitats Directive when approving the plans.

Press Release - Friends of the Irish Environment 29th June 2020

Legal Aid Board refusal to fund environmental NGO faces High Court challenge

Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’

The High Court will tomorrow [June 30] hear a two-day challenge to the Legal Aid Board’s refusal to provide legal aid to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE].

The NGO sought the funding in April of 2018 to support its Judicial Review of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework. This case alleges that the Government of Ireland erred in law in failing to adequately fulfil its obligations under the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Habitats Directive when approving the plans.

The Legal Aid Board ruled that FIE was acting on behalf of third parties and that its aid is only available to individuals and not companies.

FIE was established in 1997 and is a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity. It has brought a number of legal actions to protect the environment. In its challenge, FIE’s cites the Irish Interpretation Act 2005, which states that the word ‘person’ shall be ‘read as importing a body corporate as well as an individual’.

The group argues that

  • The Irish Constitution gives a right to access the courts, claiming that this right is ‘abridged’ as it cannot ‘effectively, as effectively, or at all progress its proceedings in circumstances where it is not in a position to pay its lawyers’.
  • The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights which provides specifically that ‘legal aid is to be made available to those who lack sufficient resources in so far as such aid is necessary to ensure effective access to justice’.
  • The Aarhus convention, which has been ratified by Ireland, which requires members to ‘consider the establishment of appropriate assistance mechanisms to remove or reduce financial and other barriers to access to justice.’

According to FIE Director Tony Lowes, ‘We continue to seek Civil Legal Aid to allow to us to present important cases like our challenge to the National Development Plan with some semblance of equality of arms between ourselves and the Government of Ireland.

‘When decisions are challenged the State and other public bodies have virtually unlimited resources to engage lawyers and consultants, putting a challenger who seeks to rely on our Courts at a significant disadvantage. The case is fundamental not only to the rights of NGOs but any group of citizens defending their own environment to whom Court costs are prohibitively expensive and so act as a barrier to access to Justice.’

FIE is represented by Fred Logue, Solicitor, John Kenny, BL, & Patrick Leonard, SC


Contacts:
COMMENT:
Fred Logue 087 1316023 (solicitor)
Tony Lowes 087 2176316
Irish language: David Healy 087 6178852

Related Link: https://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org/press-releases/17826-legal-aid-board-refusal-to-fund-environmental-ngo-faces-high-court-challenge
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy