LIMERICK is set to be the first place in the country outside Dublin to get a free community law and mediation service. And it is planned that the new service would eventually go a step beyond free legal advice and give people free legal representation in court in civil and debt hearings. The Limerick Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), has been working with the Northside Community Law centre in Coolock, Dublin, to get the pilot initiative off the ground.
The scheme is being paid for through funding from the Regeneration agency, which is being matched by money from the Public Interest Law Association and it is hoped it will start in the Autumn.
“This is a very hopeful project for Limerick. While people can get advice from the Free Legal Advice Service through the Citizen’s Information centre, the difference here is that it is hoped that at the end of the pilot scheme, there will be a full service in which people will be able to get a solicitor to act for them and represent them,” a spokesperson for MABS told the Limerick Post.
The funding will allow NCLC to employ a solicitor who will be based in Limerick for a year to establish legal information, advice, and advocacy services and to develop community dispute resolution services.
It will be city wide and will specifically target services through outreach centres in the regeneration areas in Limerick city. Recruitment for the solicitor will begin shortly.
It is also expected that a number of Limerick people currently volunteering in the Dublin service may transfer their work to Limerick to help the solicitor when he or she is appointed.
