The FLAC Traveller Legal Service welcomes the resolution of proceedings taken against its client by Dublin Airport Authority.
These proceedings underline the importance of access to legal representation for members of the Traveller community, who would otherwise be excluded from access to justice.
FLAC’s Traveller Legal Service was glad to represent its client in proceedings which sought to have her and her children removed from their home near Dublin airport via an urgent injunction application. These applications are legally complex, subject to tight timelines, expensive to defend and are largely excluded from the civil legal aid scheme.
In the absence of State funded legal aid, a case such as this could be decided without a defendant ever being heard in Court. FLAC has campaigned for many years to have this exclusion under the Civil Legal Aid Act, as it relates to evictions and the family home, removed. This case demonstrates the importance of having legal aid available in such cases.
FLAC are happy with the resolution that has been reached and are satisfied that serious consequences have been avoided for our client.
The details of the settlement remain confidential.
Background
Dublin Airport Authority issued injunction proceedings against a number of Travellers living on a site adjacent to Dublin Airport which had been their home for over 30 years. FLAC’s Traveller Legal Service Solicitor represented one of the defendants in the case.
The proceedings relate to Collinstown Park halting site, where members of the same extended family have lived for approximately 30 years. The site was originally provided through a license agreement whereby DAA granted the land to Fingal County Council for the purpose of establishing a halting site. The license has now expired and DAA has demanded that the Council deliver vacant possession of the site to allow construction of the Northern Runway to proceed. A significant attempt to rehouse the site’s residents ran aground in October 2018.
The case has now settled.