This is a guest article by NUI Galway Lecturer Larry Donnelly. Larry is the founder and director of the NUI Galway School of Law’s highly regarded Clinical Legal Education programme. He was also PILA Manager from 2010 – 2012.
On Wednesday, 29 January, a capacity crowd of academics, students, practitioners and interested citizens on the campus of NUI Galway heard two compelling perspectives on the themes of legal aid reform and access to justice. The event was organised by the university’s globally-recognised Centre for Disability Law and Policy and the flourishing student FLAC chapter at its School of Law. The event was chaired by NUI Galway academic and criminal law expert, Tom O’Malley, who is also a part-time Law Reform Commissioner and practising barrister.
Judge Mary Fahy, the long time sitting District Court Judge in Galway, provided some revealing insights on her experience on the bench of the operation of the criminal legal aid scheme. She also gave an informative survey of the relevant cases that play a key role in helping to shape judicial determinations of eligibility for legal aid.
Teresa Blake BL followed Judge Fahy and gave a provocative and inspiring talk about the many cases she has dealt with in her career as a public interest lawyer – especially in advocating for access to education for young people with disabilities. Ms. Blake closed by emphasising the passion she still has for using the law for the benefit of those individuals and groups on society’s margins and urging students at the event to similarly chase their dreams in their legal careers.
A stimulating Q&A session moderated by Tom O’Malley followed the two main speakers and covered a broad range of issues directly related to and emanating from the event’s primary themes.
I had the opportunity to close the event and highlighted the ongoing work of FLAC and PILA to facilitate access to justice, and to ensure a properly funded system of government legal aid, despite trying economic times.
Commenting after the event, John Feeney of NUI Galway FLAC, who opened the event, noted that “the two main speakers were both informative and compelling” and that “it was great to see such a large crowd, from within and without the university, here on campus. Their attendance shows just how important the topics under consideration remain in Ireland in 2014.”