Domestic violence-related calls to the State’s Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac) reached a record level of 539 last year and queries in relation to family law accounted for more than a quarter of all calls answered.
The organisation received an estimated 53,103 calls to its information and referral line last year but only had the capacity to deal with about one in five of these queries, according to its annual report published today.
Family law remained the area in which Flac received the most queries, at 3,180 of the 11,435 calls answered. Callers to the phoneline frequently reported being unable to access a family law solicitor from the Legal Aid Board’s private practitioner panel even though they had been approved for legal aid, Flac said.
The phoneline answered 2,341 employment law queries. Queries about grievance procedures, dismissal, bullying or harassment, and discrimination were all higher than in any previous year, it said.
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“The overwhelming demand for Flac’s services points to nothing less than a civil legal aid crisis,” Flac chief executive Eilis Barry said. “As a small NGO, we cannot begin to meet this demand but the ways in which we work provide a blueprint for a new era of civil legal aid in this country.”
A perception that civil legal aid was “about more money for lawyers” had perhaps created a resistance to its provision she said.
“This ignores the very high cost of not providing legal aid to children, families and communities, and the growing body of international research that shows unequivocally that investment in legal aid saves States more money than it costs. Civil Legal Aid needs to be treated like the vital public service which it is.”
Ms Barry said she hoped the example Flac provided would inform the Government’s response. “This response should include enabling and resourcing the Legal Aid Board to provide legal information and advice to address the huge unmet need for these services.”
It should also involve enabling the board to provide representation in employment, discrimination, social welfare and housing cases, she said, and include the provision of dedicated legal services for disadvantaged communities, including a properly-resourced national Traveller legal service, and a national network of community law centres.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said Flac’s funding had been increased by 12.6 per cent in 2025.
“The increase in calls relating to domestic violence, as highlighted in the report, is a stark reminder of the ongoing need for accessible legal information and support. I commend Flac for their tireless work in supporting vulnerable members of society and reaffirming the Government’s commitment to tackling domestic and gender-based violence in all its forms.”
