How to ask for help
The IHRC is always happy to hear from you. We will help you if we can. If we cannot, we may suggest other organisations better suited to dealing with your query.
- When should I contact the Irish Human Rights Commission?
- What can the Irish Human Rights Commission do for me?
- Asking the Irish Human Rights Commission for Help
- When should I contact another organisation?
- What other organisations can I contact?
- List of issues people ask about.
When should I contact the Irish Human Rights Commission?
We are always happy to hear from you and will help if we can. Alternatively, we may suggest other organisations better suited to dealing with your query.
Our role is to promote and protect human rights in Ireland. We can look at complaints if they concern violations of human rights law in Ireland, are not being dealt with by another body and involve a request that we conduct an enquiry into the matter. Alternatively, we can consider whether legal assistance is merited in a case.
Your complaint and request for an enquiry must be linked to one of the things we do:
- We review law, policy and practice in Ireland
- We consult with national or international organisations
- We make recommendations to the Government
- We promote understanding and awareness of human rights
Alternatively, your complaint and request for legal assistance must be linked to a violation of human rights law and for example concern a matter of principle.
We carefully consider all complaints and take a number of factors into account.
- Is the issue a priority area of our work?
- Do we have resources to help you?
- Is there another organisation set up to deal with your type of complaint?
- Have you talked to a solicitor or brought a legal case to the courts?
What can the Irish Human Rights Commission do for you?
If we take up your query, we can:
Conduct an Enquiry
This means we examine whether law and practice protects human rights in the area you raise.
Give Legal Assistance
This means we can help you bring your case before the courts.
Our legal assistance function »
Act as Amicus Curiae/ Friend of the Court
This means we can give advice to the courts about human rights law that might not otherwise come to the court's attention. This only applies to cases already before the courts.
Asking the Irish Human Rights Commission for Help
You can ask us to do more than one thing.
You might ask us to conduct an enquiry into your concerns.
You might also ask us to give you legal assistance.
If we take up your query, we will look at which option is best suited to dealing with it.
We can also use the information you give us to make general recommendations to the Government. These recommendations might be about how to change law and policy in Ireland.
Our work reviewing law and policy »
What other organisations can I contact?
The organisation you need to contact depends on the type of query you have. See FAQ's.
An Garda Síochána/ the Police
If your complaint is about An Garda Síochána/ Irish police, you should contact the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission
Asylum/ Immigration
If you have a question about your asylum application, you should contact the Refugee Legal Service. The Refugee Legal Service is independent and it can give you confidential advice.
The Refugee Legal Service can give you advice at any stage of your application for asylum. It is best if you contact them as early as possible. They can also help you make your application for asylum.
The Refugee Legal Service can also give legal aid and legal advice on immigration and deportation matters in appropriate cases.
Civil Legal Aid
The Legal Aid Board can give you legal aid (representation by a barrister or solicitor in court) or legal advice in civil cases. Civil cases are non-criminal cases and can involve people, companies or public organisations. If you are able to get help from the Legal Aid Board, you should contact them before coming to us.
There are many Legal Aid Centres in Ireland. If you contact the Legal Aid Board, they will tell you which centre is nearest to you. The Legal Aid Board can help with most civil cases. Your local law centre can tell you whether your case qualifies for legal aid. You must show that your income and property are below a certain level. The Legal Aid Board will also assess your case.
The Legal Aid Board will look at how likely it is your case will succeed and whether you need to go to court to solve your problem. The Legal Aid Board will also balance the cost of their services against what you are likely to get from going to court. If the Legal Aid Board gives you legal aid or advice, you will have to give some money towards it. The amount will depend on your income.
Consumer Rights
If your complaint is about your rights as a consumer, you should contact the Consumers' Association of Ireland or the National Consumer Agency. These organisations can help you if you are not happy with the quality of goods or services that you have paid for.
Consumers' Association of Ireland
Criminal Legal Aid
If you are being prosecuted for a criminal offence, with a possible prison sentence, you may be entitled to criminal legal aid. This means you can be represented by a lawyer free of charge.
You have to show that you cannot afford legal representation. Other factors, such as the seriousness of the offence you are being prosecuted for, are considered in granting criminal legal aid. The Judge hearing the case against you will decide whether to grant you criminal legal aid.
For some criminal law matters, you should apply instead for legal representation under the Attorney General's Scheme. Again, you must show that you cannot afford legal representation.
Inequality and Discrimination
If your complaint is about discrimination, you should contact the Equality Authority. The Equality Authority assists with complaints of unfair treatment because of your gender, marital status, family status, age, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or membership of the Traveller community. It helps people bring cases to the Equality Tribunal.
Employment
If your complaint is about your employment rights, you should contact the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). NERA deals with complaints about wages, annual leave, working hours, redundancy, dismissal or notice to NERA. But if your complaint is about discrimination in your job, you should take your case to the Equality Authority.
National Employment Rights Authority
Environment
If your complaint is about the protection of the environment, you should contact the Environmental Protection Agency.
Environmental Protection Agency
Health Services
If your complaint is about (administrative) actions by public health services, you should contact the Health Service Executive. Complaints about the exercise of clinical judgments are excluded under this complaints process.
Information on Entitlements
If you want to find out what you are entitled to (e.g. social welfare entitlements), you should contact the Citizens Information Board. The Citizens Information Board provides information, advice and advocacy to the public free of charge. It deals with a wide range of social and civil services. The Citizens Information Board has a network of local centres that are open to the public. You can contact them by phone or by calling in to a centre.
Mental Health Services
If your queryis about mental health services, you should contact the Mental Health Commission. The Mental Health Commission promotes high standards and good practices in mental health services. It also protects the rights of people who live in centres that provide psychiatric care.
Newspapers
If your query is about an article in a newspaper or the behaviour of a journalist, you should contact the Press Ombudsman. Newspapers in Ireland have agreed a Code of Practice which sets out the standards they are happy to follow. If you feel that the Code of Practice has not been followed by a newspaper, the Press Ombudsman can look at your complaint.
Code of Practice and the Press Ombudsman
Privacy and Storage of your Personal Information
If your complaint is about privacy and storage of your personal information, you should contact the Data Protection Commissioner.
Some organisations have personal information about members of the public on their computers or paper files. You can ask them if they have that information. You can also ask them for a copy of that information. If they refuse, you can contact the Data Protection Commissioner.
Organisations may also have incorrect information about members of the public. You can ask them to correct that information. Again, if they refuse, you can contact the Data Protection Commissioner. Data Protection rights also apply to mailing lists.
Private Disputes
Protecting human rights in Ireland usually involves looking at whether the State has protected your rights. We cannot get involved in disputes between private individuals. You should normally contact a solicitor for advice if you are involved in a private dispute. If your complaint involves a possible crime, you should contact An Garda Síochána.
Private Residential Tenancies Board
If your complaint is about a private dispute between a tenant and landlord, you should contact the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Threshold (http://www.threshold.ie) is a voluntary organisation that may be able to help you if you with a problem you are having in private rented accommodation.
Private Residential Tenancies Board
Private Solicitors
You may be able to afford to hire a solicitor. Many solicitors are willing to help clients without charging until after a case has been to court. You can contact the Law Society of Ireland to find details of solicitors' firms near you.
Public Services
If your complaint is about being treated unfairly by the public service, you should contact the Ombudsman. Your complaint must be about the way a decision that affects you was taken. This includes decisions taken by Government Departments, the Health Service Executive, local authorities or other State organisations. Your complaint might be about public services, taxation, housing, education or social welfare.
Records of Public Organisations
Under the Freedom of Information Acts you can ask public bodies to give you copies of records they have about you. This might be information held in paper files or on a computer.
Public bodies have four weeks to give you some, all or none of the records you ask for. If you are not happy with that decision, you can appeal within another four weeks. Public bodies then have to review their decision and make a final decision.
If you are not happy with the final, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner deals with complaints about whether the Freedom of Information Acts has been followed. He also gives information on those Acts.
Freedom of Information Acts and the Office of the Information Commissioner
Rights and Welfare of Children
If your complaint is about the rights and welfare of children, you should contact the Ombudsman for Children. The Ombudsman for Children can look at complaints made by a child, a family member, or a professional working with children. She can look at complaints about Government Departments, the HSE, schools, and public hospitals etc.
Social Welfare
If you think you have been wrongly refused a social welfare benefit you can appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. You can also appeal if you are unhappy about any decision of a Social Welfare Deciding Officer. You should appeal within 21 days of the decision. The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an independent agency. It is not part of the Department of Social Welfare.
Disputes outside Ireland
If your complaint is about violations of human rights outside Ireland, then we cannot help you. You should contact the National Human Rights Institution or Ombudsman in that country. You could also contact an international organisation or non-governmental organisation.
National Human Rights Institutions
Taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights
If you are considering taking a case to Strasbourg, you must first satisfy a number of admissiblity criteria such as exhausting domestic remedies and bringing the application within 6 months of the final domstic Court Judgment (usually the Supreme Court).
The European Court Registry has developed guidance to lawyers assisting individuals.