A woman has lost a High Court claim that she was entitled to legal aid to sue a firm of solicitors and that the refusal to provide this breached her rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights.
Dolores Mannion had sought a court declaration that the Legal Aid Board had breached her rights by refusing to provide her with advice to pursue cases arising out of the purchase by her of an apartment in Tralee, Co Kerry, in 1989.
Ms Mannion claimed there were problems relating to the purchase and to the management company looking after the apartment, and she approached another firm of solicitors to take a case against her first solicitor.
Proceedings were instituted by the second solicitor in 1994 but Ms Mannion was unhappy with the way he was dealing with it and sought the help of the Legal Aid Board (Lab). She was unhappy with the services of the Lab and got a third solicitor to initiate proceedings against the Lab and the second solicitor in 2001. The third solicitor did not wish to act for her and came "off record" in 2002. She got a fourth firm of solicitors but they too came off record after some time.
Yesterday, Mr Justice McGovern dismissed Ms Mannion's application for a declaration that her rights had been breached. He also dismissed her application for an order that the court assign a solicitor, other than one employed by the Lab, to her.There had been no such panel for High Court cases, which was what Ms Mannion required, and the Lab had used its discretion not to do so.