Human Rights in Ireland welcomes this guest post from Saoirse Brady, Policy and Advocacy Officer in Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), as part of its contribution to Human Rights Week 2012.
Social welfare law reform has been a key priority for FLAC for many years. To mark human rights week, FLAC takes this opportunity to look at the importance of the right to social security particularly in light of the recent Seanad motion inspired by our research on the social welfare appeals system Not Fair Enough. The impact of yet another austerity budget remains to be seen but the chances are that it will take its toll on the appeals system.
On 7 November, Independent Senator Katherine Zappone and her colleagues laid a motion before the Seanad based on a number of the recommendations in FLAC’s report. The motion was reasonable in scope: it called for an audit of the Appeals Office to ensure compliance with human rights obligations as outlined in FLAC’s report which gave in-depth analysis of how domestic and international human rights law applies to the appeals system. The motion also suggested a number of very practical steps: furnishing appellants with a copy of their social welfare files; including an option to request an oral hearing on the appeals form and simplifying and making more accessible application forms. These sensible steps would not be expensive to implement, but crucially, would enhance the way in which the system operates and rebalance the scales for appellants who at the moment are often at an unfair disadvantage.
During the Seanad debate, Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, welcomed FLAC’s report Continue reading “The Right to Social Security is worth Protecting”
Saoirse Brady is the