Readers may recall in the last PILA Bulletin that Irish immigrant support group NASC had identified that Department of the Environment was excluding immigrants from social housing. The Government Department had issued a directive to all housing Directors of Service that "only immigrants with a long-term residency "stamp 4" visa were entitled to apply for social housing."
NASC came to PILA "to get an Opinion for us from an expert on housing law. PILA came up trumps, with an Opinion from a barrister, Neil Maddox, who literally wrote the book on housing law in Ireland (Housing Authority Law, Roundhall, 2010). Mr. Maddox confirmed that the rule was, indeed, "ultra vires" or beyond the scope of the legislation. The Department has essentially drafted its own "law", and it did not have the power to do so. In addition, Mr. Maddox pointed out that the effect of the rule was discriminatory and in all probability unconstitutional."
The Department has since issued revised guidelines which NASC says are "much, much, fairer than those that were in place before". The group says that it expects that there will be a number of judicial review applications currently before the courts that are likely to be withdrawn in light of the new guidelines.
PILA Project Officer Lianne Murphy says "We in PILA are delighted with the outcome for NASC and grateful to Neil Maddox BL for assisting them in this matter. It is successes like this that we aim to facilitate through our pro bono referral scheme."