Dates for your diary
Need for legal services in Dublin's inner city has gone unmet - Flac
TWO-THIRDS of the population of Dublin's north inner city lack an awareness of their rights and entitlements, according to a survey conducted by Flac, the legal rights campaigning body.
The survey was conducted among 40 organisations working in the north inner city. The lack of awareness that a legal right might exist in the first place was identified by organisations as a key barrier on accessing legal services in the area. This was combined with concerns about costs, fear, perceived complexities, literacy issues and the belief that clients would not be successful to prevent people seeking legal services.
The demand identified by these organisations led Flac to conclude that a new advice centre was required for the area and it is now hoped that it can be established in the new community centre in Seán McDermott Street.
This will bring to 23 the number of Flac advice centres in Dublin and to 64 the total number throughout the State, which are staffed by volunteer lawyers or advisers. Most of them are run in conjunction with Citizens Information Centres.
Canadian chief justice to lecture at Law Society in Dublin
The chief justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, will give a lecture in the Law Society in Dublin on Wednesday, May 7th, at 6.30pm, organised by the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society. The lecture will focus on the challenges faced by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada in the 21st century and human rights protection in Canada generally.
First citizenship and the law programme ends at Cork prison
MONDAY APRIL 21st marked the completion of the first short course on Citizenship and the Law delivered at Cork prison by the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights at the faculty of law in UCC. Eleven prisoners successfully completed the course and were presented with certificates by Prof Caroline Fennell, dean of faculty and head of the department of law.
The seminar series was organised with the support of the director for education in Cork prison, Colm O'Herlihy, and governor Jim Collins. Topics covered included: the Irish legal system; EU law; family law; youth justice; employment equality law; immigration and refugee law and the criminal justice system.
Discussion on serious international crime
BILL HUGHES, director- general of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in the UK, will lead a round-table discussion on International Co-operation against Serious Criminality, with a particular focus on anti-money laundering, in the Institute of International and European Affairs, North Great George's Street, Dublin on Wednesday next at 12.45pm. Mr Hughes heads the delegation of European Police Chiefs Task Force, designed to improve closer co-ordination and co-operation between national and local police forces in the European Union.
Should the Treaty of Lisbon come into force in 2009, the European Commission will gain the right of initiative in the field of police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters.
THREE NEW partners have been appointed at solicitors McCann FitzGerald.
They are Adrian Farrell, a specialist in banking, capital markets and specialist finance; Michael Murphy, a specialist is insolvency and corporate restructuring matters, and Jane Marshall, an insolvency and corporate restructuring expert, who returns to partnership full-time after some years as a consultant.
Merger creates largest law firm in Connacht
THE LEGAL practices of CE Callan Co of Boyle, Co Roscommon, and Damien Tansey Associates of Sligo have been merged into a new firm to be called Callan Tansey.
The merger creates the largest law firm in Connacht with more than 20 solicitors and 35 support staff providing a full range of legal services to corporate and private clients throughout Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and beyond.
Callan Tansey will offer a full range of legal services with a particular focus on business law, litigation, commercial conveyancing, banking, employment law and private client services. It will continue to operate and develop its offices in Boyle and Sligo. This development reflects a growing trend in the Irish legal sector towards mergers to create practices of sufficient scale intended to provide a comprehensive service to clients.
Guide for migrant workers in the North
THE NORTHERN Ireland Human Rights Commission, in partnership with Law Centre (NI) has launched the second edition of a series of guides to help migrant workers secure their rights in Northern Ireland. Your Rights in Northern Ireland: A Guide for Migrant Workers, provides information to assist migrant workers in understanding their rights and entitlements on a range of issues including housing, employment, education and social protection.
Chief Commissioner Prof Monica McWilliams said: "More protection is needed to secure the rights of migrant workers and we believe it is important that the UK government ratifies the United Nations International Migrant Workers Convention in order to achieve this goal."
The second edition incorporates changes in the law that have taken place since the guides were first published.
Guides are available in English, Portuguese, Tetum (Timorese), Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Chinese and Slovakian and are available to download at the websites of both organisations. www.nihrc.organd www.lawcentreni.org
