Public funding for staff at Louth community centres raised with Minister

Public funding for staff at community centres in Blackrock and Muirhevnamor has been raised with Minister Joe O’Brien in the Dáil by Louth TD Ruairí Ó Murchú.

The Louth centres were highlighted by the Sinn Féin TD, who said community centres were under pressure because of the added costs of wages, energy costs and the cost of business.

He said Muirhevnamor Community Centre currently has an application with the Department of Rural and Community Development for funding under the Community Services Programme (CSP).

Deputy Ó Murchú said: ‘I can speak to the work that is done in terms of youth groups, youth training, addiction supports, disability supports, the HSE and everybody else who operates out of there. It has expanded and provides a fabulous service to the local community’.

Minister O’Brien said: "I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing advocacy for Muirhevnamor community centre. He raises it with me regularly. We supply funding for it to support a manager and three full-time equivalents, so that is an annual contribution of €114,000 supplied to Muirhevnamor community centre. 

"Over the past four years, there has been a list of financial pressures on the CSP that really started with Covid. Many CSP organisations depend on the income they generate themselves. 

"That varies a lot depending on where organisations are situated. We had a job to make sure CSP organisations survived through Covid. Many of them were not able to generate their own income, so we developed a support fund to guide the 400-plus organisations through that challenge. 

"We have a new model, which gives CSP organisations a graded contribution. I think Muirhevnamor is one of those getting a higher contribution under the new model because it is in an area of higher need with less ability to generate its own income. Applications are under review, but due to the volume of applications received, it is expected notifications will issue to organisations in the coming weeks."

Deputy Ó Murchú also raised Blackrock Community Centre. He said: "I also previously asked the Minister of State about Blackrock community centre and that his Department engage with it. 

"It previously failed on the basis of displacement, but it said the sort of jobs it was looking at could not be dealt with by Tús and CE. While it might not be in the same sort of area as Muirhevnamor, it provides a huge service and we should look at facilitating it."

Minister O’Brien said: "The past couple of years have been particularly challenging, and they have all stepped up to the plate. If the Deputy sends me more detail on the Blackrock situation, we can look into it. I do not know if appeal options were exhausted."