Traveller Legal Service 

The Traveller Legal Service (‘TLS’) was founded in March 2020 to address unmet legal need in the Traveller community and to work in partnership with Traveller organisations. Supported by The Community Foundation for Ireland, and in cooperation with a Steering Group made up of representation from the national Traveller organisations, it aims to empower Travellers and Traveller groups to engage with the law as a means of combating discrimination and advancing the rights of Travellers in Irish Society. 

The TLS works in two ways: 

• First, the provision of representation to Travellers before courts and tribunals in strategic cases. 
• Second, the TLS seeks to provide legal information and training to Traveller advocates in areas of law relevant to their day-to-day work and to empower those advocates in their work. 

The TLS has acted in proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, the High Court, the Circuit Court, the District Court, and the Workplace Relations Commission (‘WRC’).  

The work of the TLS has been dominated by housing issues including in relation to evictions, denial of access to emergency accommodation and Traveller-specific accommodation, and the standards in such forms accommodation. The TLS also frequently acts in cases concerning discrimination in access to goods, services, employment and accommodation.