Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Global Warming is Mostly Caused By the Sun, Not Humans, Says Astrophysics Professor Wed Apr 23, 2025 19:00 | Hannes Sarv
Up to two thirds of recent warming is because of the Sun, not humans, according to Astrophysics Professor Nir Shaviv. This means there is no climate emergency and we should adapt rather than curb CO2 emissions.
The post Global Warming is Mostly Caused By the Sun, Not Humans, Says Astrophysics Professor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Professor Fired for Questioning Gender Ideology Wins $1.6 Million Settlement Wed Apr 23, 2025 17:00 | Dr Frederick Attenborough
In a landmark victory for academic freedom, the University of Louisville will pay nearly $1.6m to a respected psychiatrist fired for questioning the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on children.
The post Professor Fired for Questioning Gender Ideology Wins $1.6 Million Settlement appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Miliband Poised to Charge People in South More for Electricity Wed Apr 23, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
Ed Miliband is set to approve changes under which households in the South would pay more for electricity than those in Scotland and the North.
The post Miliband Poised to Charge People in South More for Electricity appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link US Companies Admit to Avoiding Hiring White Men Wed Apr 23, 2025 13:22 | Will Jones
Hundreds of American companies have admitted to deliberately shunning white men for jobs due to DEI policies amid pressure to make workplaces more diverse, according to a survey.
The post US Companies Admit to Avoiding Hiring White Men appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Net Zero Plan to Blot Out Sun Using ?50 Million of Taxpayer Money Set to Be Approved Wed Apr 23, 2025 11:05 | Sallust
A mad Net Zero plan to blot out the Sun using ?50 million of taxpayer money is set to receive experimental approval within weeks. What could go wrong? Except triggering the next ice age.
The post Net Zero Plan to Blot Out Sun Using ?50 Million of Taxpayer Money Set to Be Approved appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’

category national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release author Monday June 29, 2020 23:28author by foie - Friends of the Irish Environment Report this post to the editors

Press Release - Friends of the Irish Environment 29th June 2020

Legal Aid Board refusal to fund environmental NGO faces High Court challenge
Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’

The High Court will tomorrow [June 30] hear a two-day challenge to the Legal Aid Board’s refusal to provide legal aid to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE].

The NGO sought the funding in April of 2018 to support its Judicial Review of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework. This case alleges that the Government of Ireland erred in law in failing to adequately fulfil its obligations under the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Habitats Directive when approving the plans.

Press Release - Friends of the Irish Environment 29th June 2020

Legal Aid Board refusal to fund environmental NGO faces High Court challenge

Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’

The High Court will tomorrow [June 30] hear a two-day challenge to the Legal Aid Board’s refusal to provide legal aid to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE].

The NGO sought the funding in April of 2018 to support its Judicial Review of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework. This case alleges that the Government of Ireland erred in law in failing to adequately fulfil its obligations under the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Habitats Directive when approving the plans.

The Legal Aid Board ruled that FIE was acting on behalf of third parties and that its aid is only available to individuals and not companies.

FIE was established in 1997 and is a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity. It has brought a number of legal actions to protect the environment. In its challenge, FIE’s cites the Irish Interpretation Act 2005, which states that the word ‘person’ shall be ‘read as importing a body corporate as well as an individual’.

The group argues that

  • The Irish Constitution gives a right to access the courts, claiming that this right is ‘abridged’ as it cannot ‘effectively, as effectively, or at all progress its proceedings in circumstances where it is not in a position to pay its lawyers’.
  • The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights which provides specifically that ‘legal aid is to be made available to those who lack sufficient resources in so far as such aid is necessary to ensure effective access to justice’.
  • The Aarhus convention, which has been ratified by Ireland, which requires members to ‘consider the establishment of appropriate assistance mechanisms to remove or reduce financial and other barriers to access to justice.’

According to FIE Director Tony Lowes, ‘We continue to seek Civil Legal Aid to allow to us to present important cases like our challenge to the National Development Plan with some semblance of equality of arms between ourselves and the Government of Ireland.

‘When decisions are challenged the State and other public bodies have virtually unlimited resources to engage lawyers and consultants, putting a challenger who seeks to rely on our Courts at a significant disadvantage. The case is fundamental not only to the rights of NGOs but any group of citizens defending their own environment to whom Court costs are prohibitively expensive and so act as a barrier to access to Justice.’

FIE is represented by Fred Logue, Solicitor, John Kenny, BL, & Patrick Leonard, SC


Contacts:
COMMENT:
Fred Logue 087 1316023 (solicitor)
Tony Lowes 087 2176316
Irish language: David Healy 087 6178852

Related Link: https://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org/press-releases/17826-legal-aid-board-refusal-to-fund-environmental-ngo-faces-high-court-challenge
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy