This article is from page 25 of the 2012-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
MORE and more distressed Clare families are seeking legal assistance new figures have shown.
One in every three queries to Clare’s Legal Advice Centres last year was on matters of family law according to the Free Legal Advice Centre Report.
The centre in Ennis also proves to be the busiest centre in Munster attracting 449 people last year alone.
As many as 497 people received legal advice from the three centres in County Clare last year.
And while one third of the callers were concerned about family issues, 14 per cent had enquiries about employment law and their rights.
Money matters in the form of debt problem made up 11 per cent of the calls in Clare, nine per cent were concerned about housing and property and eight per cent about consumer law. Just four per cent of the calls related to crime.
FLAC noted a particular development around increasing debt prob- lems intersecting with issues such as family, employment and housing.
“FLAC has focused on reforming laws around personal debt because we have seen the terrible impact of over-indebtedness on people contacting us, having dealt some 83,000 legal queries since the start of 2008,” said Noeline Blackwell, FLAC Director General. “We have kept it simple: we need an independent, out-of-court debt settlement structure that will examine people’s personal debt in a holistic way and where possible aim to keep people in their homes.” Clare has three of these NSO centres in conjunction with the Citizens Information Centres in County Clare. The busy Ennis centre is open every Monday afternoon, Thursday evening and Friday evening at the Ennis CIC on Bindon Lane, while there are also evening clinics in Kilrush on the first and third Tuesdays of the month and an evening clinic in Shannon on the last Monday of the month. FLAC is an NGO that relies on a combination of statutory funding, contributions from the legal professions and donations from individu als and grant-making foundations to support its work. FLAC offers basic legal information through its telephone information line and free legal advice through its network of 80 volunteer evening advice centres. It also campaigns on a range of issues including personal debt, fairness in social welfare law, public interest law and civil legal aid.