The Appeals Service (TAS) Northern Ireland
PO Box 2202
Belfast
BT1 9TJ

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: TAS Refusal of Leave to Appeal (Ref: BE/6784/19/45/O)

I write in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review to notify you that I am considering issuing proceedings in the High Court of Northern Ireland to challenge the decision of the legally qualified member of TAS, dated 15 May 2025, refusing me leave to appeal to the Social Security Commissioner.

Grounds for Challenge

1. Procedural Unfairness – Article 6 ECHR
The decision fails to adequately consider the significant procedural unfairness I have suffered due to my long standing inability to secure professional legal advice and representation that recognises and supports human rights and constitutional law in a meaningful and practical way. I have repeatedly informed TAS of this issue, yet no effective steps have been taken to address it.

2. Exceptional Legal Aid Requirements
I am now 80 years old (born March 21st 1945) and have multiple serious, well-documented legal problems in addition to the TAS matter—including an outstanding arrest warrant in the Republic of Ireland, and the sudden cancellation of my Pension Credit payments (without warning and without notification), followed by the knock-on cancellation of my Housing Benefit payments in 2019. I believe these benefits were cancelled as a means of “weaponising” social security payments to punish me for my ongoing efforts to challenge “wrongdoings” at the hands of individuals and public officials, as confirmed in a “To Whom It May Concern” letter from a former GP of mine.

Given the complexity and breadth of these issues, I believe that exceptional legal aid is required to ensure I can properly address the interconnected legal problems I face and effectively participate in the High Court proceedings.

3. Financial Hardship and Borrowing
As I have already informed TAS and several other public bodies in writing, and in public, that and on several occasions, over a period of years, I have gradually borrowed money totalling, according to my records, €129,600. All of this sum of money has been paid into my bank account by two close relatives (my brother and my half-sister), both older than me by 5 and 12 years respectively. This borrowing of mine, which is ongoing, is entirely the result of the way my Social Security benefits have been cancelled in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and in the Republic of Ireland. Most of the €129,600 was borrowed from my brother (born September 15th 1939) against my now derelict home in the Republic of Ireland, and none of this money has yet been paid back.

This financial hardship has exacerbated my vulnerability and has seriously impacted my ability to secure the professional legal advice and representation I require to fairly participate in these proceedings.

4. Medical Issues: PTSD and C-PTSD Symptoms
Since around 2000, I have been diagnosed by a number of medical doctors as suffering from PTSD and C-PTSD symptoms. Despite repeated efforts on my part, I have been unable to secure appropriate or effective medical treatment for these conditions. As with my unresolved legal problems, I have informed TAS and several other senior public officials in writing and in public on several occasions about this long-running and ongoing medical issue.

My PTSD and C-PTSD symptoms have had a significant impact on my ability to engage with these legal proceedings in a fair and effective manner, thereby compounding the procedural unfairness.

5. Denial of Effective Remedy – Article 47 EU Charter / Article 8 UDHR
The refusal to grant leave to appeal effectively denies me an effective remedy for the serious and ongoing wrongdoings I have faced since around 1997/98.

6. Failure to Consider All Relevant Matters
TAS failed to adequately consider the impact of the approximate 8-month delay in providing the tribunal’s Statement of Reasons, which compounded the procedural unfairness and further impaired my ability to effectively pursue my case.

Remedy Sought

• That TAS reconsider its decision, fully taking into account my lack of access to legal representation, my age, health, financial hardship, PTSD/C-PTSD symptoms, and the interconnected nature of my legal problems.

• Alternatively, that the High Court quash the decision and remit it to TAS for reconsideration with appropriate safeguards, including directions that I be provided with exceptional legal aid to ensure meaningful participation.

• That TAS and/or the Department make urgent representations to ensure that my right to legal representation and appropriate medical treatment is meaningfully addressed in light of my circumstances.

Additional Information

I respectfully request that, in accordance with its duty to ensure fairness, the High Court consider making appropriate directions to address these issues, including the possibility of an adjournment to allow me time to obtain exceptional legal aid and representation.

I also wish to emphasize that the continued refusal to address my legal representation and medical treatment issues—combined with my age, health, financial hardship, and the time pressures I face—renders the current process procedurally unfair and a breach of my human rights. Evidence of my most recent attempt to find proper legal representation, and proper medical treatment, can be viewed in the email and closely associated registered letter I sent to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP on March 31st 2025. Copies of both the email and the registered letter, plus copies of the two replies I have received, can all be viewed via the following www location:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/UKPrimeMinisterSirKeirStarmerMP-Email-Dated-31March2025/RegisteredLetter.htm 

Also, and in what could (I feel) reasonably be described as a "PUBLIC ARCHIVE" (of sorts), for all to see, relating to my long-running, and ongoing efforts since around 1997/98, to find "AN EFFECTIVE REMEDY" (Ref: Article 8 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights) for the overall and growing set of legal, medical, financial and social difficulties I feel I have been saddled with -- for no good reason that I know of or can think of -- please see the group of www links in the APPENDICES section of the unedited "Gmail PDF" copy of the June 24th 2024 email sent to TAS (The Appeal Service of Northern Ireland), and which was copied to, among others, using the same email, a selection of senior lawyers, medical doctors, police officers, and politicians (including Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP), at:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/AppealsServiceNorthernIreland/24June2024/Gmail.pdf
 

Next Steps

Please respond to this letter within 14 days, indicating whether TAS is willing to reconsider the decision or provide any other relief sought.

If no satisfactory response is received, I intend to lodge a Judicial Review application.

Yours sincerely,



William Finnerty


Web Site: www.humanrightsireland.com 

FACEBOOK Accounts:

1) www.facebook.com/william.finnerty.3

2) www.facebook.com/HumanRightsIreland 

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