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flac News | Vol. 23, No. 2 Survey shows most callers ‘very satisfied’ with FLAC service In late 2012 FlAC undertook a Caller Satisfaction Survey to gain an insight into the experience of callers to our legal advice centres and telephone information line. With the help of volunteer assistants, the survey was carried out in 14 centres around the country, with responses from 181 callers. We also ran it for two weeks on the telephone information line, with responses from a further 156 callers. We would like to thank all the volunteer legal advisors for the fantastic work they do around the country, as well as the advisors on our telephone information line, and to share with you the results of our survey which highlights this work. Of those who contacted the telephone information line, 96% got through to an information provider on their first attempt. (Three callers had to call a second time, and only one out of 156 callers was kept on hold). Some 92% of callers said they were fully satisfied with the information given to them. eight per cent (12 callers) were somewhat satisfied, and no-one reported dissatisfaction with the service. The survey found that both in the centres and on the telephone information line, the Citizen Information Centres are where most callers first hear about FlAC. While word-of-mouth is the second most common source of information about FlAC centres, internet search is the second most used method for those who contacted the phone line. In the advice centres, about half of callers Team FLAC sparkles in Mini-Marathon 2013 CALLERS TO FLAC CENTRES - SATISFACTION 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 72% 22% 4% surveyed were attending a drop-in service which requires minimal waiting time. Of the 85 callers who had made an appointment, 68% saw a legal advisor within a week of making it. Twenty-five callers saw an advisor within two weeks of making an appointment and just two waited between two and three weeks. When asked how they rated the knowledge of the advisor in the area of law that they had discussed, 70% of callers said that the advisor was very knowledgeable. 21% thought that the advisor was somewhat knowledgeable, and 8% felt that the advisor was not very knowledgeable. FlAC plans to provide additional training in areas of law where the callers felt the advisor was not expert. When asked if they found the advice helpful/satisfactory, almost three-quarters (72%) of callers to FlAC centres said they 1% Fully satisfied Somewhat satisfied Not very satisfied Not at all satisfied were fully satisfied with the service. Twenty-two per cent were somewhat satisfied, four per cent were not very satisfied and only one per cent was not at all satisfied. After the consultation, centres callers were asked whether their issue had been resolved or would require further action. Twenty-three callers (13%) believed that the issue had been resolved, while 158 callers (87%) felt that the matter required further action. Of these, 129 were very clear about the next steps required, while twenty callers were somewhat clear, 3 had a vague idea and 6 were not clear about the next steps. Almost all callers (95%) said they would recommend FlAC to a friend if they had a legal problem. Four per cent were unsure and one per cent said that they would not recommend the service. Ahuge thank-you is due to the 20 women who walked, jogged and/or ran the 2013 Flora Dublin Women’s Mini-Marathon for FlAC on 3 June. Taking part this year were: Amina Adanan, Noeline Blackwell, emer Butler, Anne-Marie Butler, Cateriona Dooley, lisa Dowd, Ciara Flatley, Mary Guy, Catherine Hickey, Iona Hueston, Ciara Izuchukwu, Niamh Macevilly, Sarah McDermott, Amanda Moore, Christina Nash, Aoife O’Brien, Yvonne O’Sullivan, lorraine Walsh & Yvonne Woods. Sponsorship money is still coming in and of course we thank all those who sponsored the FlAC women! We also thank Cormac O’Hanrahan of Printwell Design for generously sponsoring our t- shirts. If you haven’t had a chance to make a donation yet, please consider doing so. FlAC has to fundraise for all its activities and relies on grants and donations to support its work in promoting access to justice for all in Ireland. You can contribute online by clicking on the iDonate icon at www.flac.ie. • If you’re interested in other sporting events to raise money for our work, please get in touch with us at fundraising@flac.ie for a sponsorship pack! 4 F L A C N E W S l A P R I L - J U N E 2 0 1 3
flac News | Vol. 23, No. 2 New community legal resource for Limerick On Friday 26 April, the Minister for Housing and TD for limerick, Jan O’Sullivan, formally launched the limerick Community law and Mediation Centre. The limerick Community law and Mediation Centre is the first community law centre of its kind to be established outside Dublin. The Centre provides free legal information, advice, advocacy and representation services to families and individuals living in communities identified for regeneration and other socially and economically disadvantaged areas in limerick. The Centre will also provide a dispute resolution service and will work to empower the community through education, research and campaigns. The law Centre is funded by the Office of Regeneration at limerick City Council and PIlA, the Public Interest law Alliance. Caroline Keane was appointed Solicitor for the Centre in November 2012. Northside Community law and Mediation Centre is responsible for the overall management of the limerick Centre. The law Centre began providing legal services and free advice clinics in January 2013 and has also commenced community education training and aims to roll-out various training courses tailored to the needs of the regeneration communities. While based in the Social Services Centre on Henry Street, the law Centre provides free advice clinics to the communities of the four regeneration areas of Southill, Moyross, St. Mary’s and Ballinacurra Weston. The establishment of the law Centre came about from representations made by community representatives and activists in limerick around establishing a community law centre to address a very significant unmet legal need identified primarily within the regeneration communities. The objective was to set up a law Centre in limerick based on the model of community law centres already established in Coolock and Ballymun. A Steering Committee was set up comprising representatives from various community groups and other key L-R: Pictured at the launch Caroline Keane, solicitor, Limerick Community Law & Mediation Centre; Moya de Paor, Acting Managing Solicitor, Northside Community Law & Mediation Centre; and Minister Jan O’Sullivan TD stakeholders to provide guidance on the direction and the development of the service. The law Centre undertook a community consultation process to establish the legal needs of the regeneration communities. It is clear from the findings of this process that a very significant need exists within the regeneration communities for an accessible legal service addressing issues such as housing, family/child related matters and social welfare entitlements. The findings and recommendations are set out in detail in a report entitled “Community Consultation Reportunmet legal Need in limerick”. The community law centre model aims to promote development and social inclusion by empowering the local community through the provision of legal services. The law Centre works in partnership with various local groups in the four regeneration areas to provide advice clinics and other services. Contact the Law Centre at (061) 536100 or by e-mail at limerick@nclc.ie You can also find out more online at www.nclc.ie law & Policy online The latest edition of the Irish Review of Community Economic Development Law and Policy, published by Northside Community law and Mediation Centre, is now available online. FlAC’s Policy and Advocacy Officer Saoirse Brady is among the contributors with an article outlining the fair procedure and access to justice concerns currently raised by the social welfare appeals system. Her article ‘Making the case for reform of the social welfare appeals system’, along with further case studies and book reviews, is available to download at: bit.ly/IRCEDLP2 F L A C N E W S l A P R I L - J U N E 2 0 1 3 5
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