Mary Heavey

The community law centre and charity highlighted the case study as it gave evidence to the joint Oireachtas committee on key issues affecting the Traveller community yesterday morning.

The couple, James and Maria, had been living in their car for months while trying to access emergency accommodation. The local authority refused to assess them as homeless until a legal intervention by CLM.

CLM has called for urgent reforms to deliver meaningful access to justice for Travellers around accommodation issues, including the expansion of the civil legal aid scheme to include housing-related matters.

Mary Heavey, housing solicitor at Community Law & Mediation, said: “We welcome this opportunity to present to the joint committee today and to call for urgent and long overdue reforms to effect meaningful access to justice for Travellers around accommodation issues.

“The importance of access to justice is often overlooked when considering broader housing and societal challenges, yet it is vital to ensuring fair procedure, holding local authorities and others to account in relation to their obligations and ensuring Travellers and other marginalised groups have their voice heard, can exercise their rights and challenge discrimination.

“First and foremost, we must see rapid progress in relation to the reform and expansion of the severely outdated civil legal aid scheme.”