The President will officially open the new offices of the Northside Community Law Centre in Dublin tomorrow.
Mrs McAleese's visit will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the centre, which over that time has been providing free information, advice and representation to individuals and groups on Dublin's northside who could not otherwise afford legal services.
For most of this time the centre, known as the Coolock Community Law Centre, was based in small offices in the Northside Shopping Centre. Over a year ago it moved into new offices in the Northside Civic Centre, a one-stop-shop housing a number of statutory and voluntary agencies offering services to the local community.
The centre is modelled on the law centre movement that originated in the US in the 1960s, according to Mr Turlough O'Donnell SC, a member of the board. This movement emphasised the use of test cases and class actions, and involved community interests on the centres' management committees, but the centres also took individual cases. "The setting up of this centre was a stunning achievement by this community," said Mr O'Donnell.
Funded by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the NCLC attempts both to provide legal services to the local community and conduct research and campaigns, according to its managing solicitor, Mr Colin Daly. "What sets us apart from the Free Legal Aid Board centres is our research role, our anti-poverty work and our role in relation to social policy," he told The Irish Times. "We feed our research back to the Department."
The NCLC also takes on cases that cannot be dealt with by the free legal aid scheme, particularly those relating to employment and social welfare appeals, which are outside the remit of the Free Legal Aid Board. According to its annual report for 2003, employment, social welfare and debt account for a quarter of all queries to the centre.
"We will be publishing a report on the social welfare appeals system at the end of March," Mr Daly said.
"We hope to get funding to conduct research on the role of medical officers in the system. There is very little research on social welfare law."