Law Society Professional Training is joining forces with a number of other European bodies to train lawyers on EU immigration and asylum law, particularly as it relates to vulnerable groups.

The other professional bodies involved are the European Lawyers Foundation (ELF), Spanish Bar Association, Athens Bar Association, Italian Bar Association, Polish Bar of Attorneys-at-Law, Cyprus Bar Association and Paris Bar Association.

The project is being co-funded by the European Union.

A one-day seminar on the issue will be held in Blackhall Place on Thursday 26 October (9.30am to 4pm).

Protecting rights

The groups say that the current migratory situation creates difficulties not only in relation to the management of huge flows of migrants, but also in ensuring protection of their fundamental rights.

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has highlighted the fact that the vulnerability of particular groups makes them more exposed to violence, exploitation and human trafficking, as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

This seminar is suitable for solicitors familiar with immigration issues who have experienced working with groups of vulnerable migrants, as well as those who attended the TRALIM conference, which was held at the Law Society on 9 March 2023.

It is worth 5.5 CPD points.

Topics and speakers

The topics to be covered are:

• The European framework (EU, CoE, ECtHR) in relation to vulnerable migrants,
• Migrant workers: trafficking and labour exploitation,
• Migrant children and migrant families,
• Migrant women and migrant LGBTI+,
• Migrants with disability, elderly migrants and migrants with diseases and trauma,
• Migrants with individual types of vulnerability.

Cindy Carroll (deputy chair, International Protection Appeals Tribunal) will chair the event.

A graduate of law of UCC, she was called to the Bar of Ireland in 1995. In March 2018, she was appointed as deputy chair of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, where she is a decision-maker in asylum-related appeals.

The speakers include:

• Vasileios Stathopoulos (project manager, ELF, Netherlands),
• Janine Silga (Assistant Professor in European Union Law, Dublin City University),
• Barbara Egan (principal managing solicitor, Legal Aid Board, Law Centre, Smithfield, Dublin),
• Dr Liam Thornton (Associate Professor, School of Law, University College Dublin),
• Katie Mannion (managing solicitor, Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre, Dublin),
• Natacha Fauveau Ivanovic (Avocat à la Cour, Paris).