Future of Derry project helping young people under threat from paramilitaries in jeopardy due to lack of funding
by Marianne Flood
The future of a Derry project that helps young people who are under paramilitary threat is now in jeopardy due to a lack of funding, it has been warned.
‘Time 2 Choose’, which is based at the Rosemount Resource Centre, was set up in response to calls for support from people facing intimidation and threats of violent attack .
The project commenced in August 2013 and was awarded financial assistance of £188,926 from the International Fund for Ireland’s Peace Impact Programme.
At the time, the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) said that the project was scheduled to come to an end in August 2015.
The service is still being run by the Rosemount Resource Centre on a voluntary basis.
However, speaking to the Derry News earlier this week, the centre manager Tommy McCourt warned that the service is now ‘unsustainable’.
He added that the service has been active for six years and in that time it has worked on over 1,000 cases, which also include neighbourhood disputes and gang related violence.
“There is a substantial underbelly in this city and there are a lot of issues we have dealt with before they have hit the news as someone getting shot in a back lane, put out of Derry or arrested,” Mr McCourt said.
“The project has proved its worth.
“We are helping young people whose lifestyle and behaviour is putting their whole future at risk.”
‘Time 2 Choose’ previously received funding from the Red Cross, The Big Lottery and the International Fund for Ireland, but this ended on June 30
“We’re not saying the funders have a responsibility to us,” he continued, “and fair play to them for taking a chance.”
“This type of project can’t be sustainable with charitable funding, it needs statutory funding.
“There has to be an acceptance by society that there is this underbelly and that those kids are not being catered for.
“They don’t fit in the normal boxes. They need innovative help.”
Mr McCourt said ‘Time to Choose’ has built strong working relationship with several statutory agencies and gained the trust of the paramilitary groups they engage with.
“You may not necessarily agree with what they do, but you have to be neutral,” he added.
”These people wouldn’t talk to the PSNI or Sinn Fein.
“They see us an honest broker and we have built that relationship.”
However, he said that due to the nature of what they do it cannot continue on a voluntary basis.
“This isn’t work you can do at an office from nine to five and go home and forget about it,” he continued.
“It’s the type of work where you could get a call from a paramilitary group and then have to go and meet them at 2am or 3am in a dark lane.
“It’s a 24-hour-operation.
“Someone has to go into a kid’s bedroom and get the drugs.
“Someone has to get their hands dirty - that’s what our argument is. The statutory agencies need to recognise the value in what we do.
“We’re running on a voluntary basis but there is a limit to how long we can do it.
“Eventually it will grind to a halt.”
Mr McCourt suggested the project could be absorbed into Social Services and rolled out across Northern Ireland.
Based on 2009 calculations by ‘Time 2 Change’ a punishment shooting can cost the public purse around to £770,000 when you factor in the cost of police time, medical treatment, a criminal trial and compensation.
As well as the mediation work ‘Time 2 Choose’ offer diversionary activities for the young people so they do not return to drugs or antisocial activity.
“Once the threat had been lifted it’s not unusual for the young person to feel like it’s a licence to keep on doing what they were doing, and then six months or so they are back on the list again,” he continued.
“We decided we had to give them another option.”
The activities offered by the group over the last six years include driving lessons, crafts, gardening, music, field trips and social economy enterprises.
‘Time 2 Choose’ also offer counselling services to their service users twice a week and can sign post them on to statutory agencies.
The project also provides a safe space for members of the public to hand over drugs without fear of prosecution.
“If a mother finds drugs in her son’s bedroom she can bring them in to us,” explained Mr McCourt
“And the only way we will dispose of them is to hand the over to the police.
“The police are happy because the drugs are off the streets and the mother is happy because her child isn’t going to end up with a criminal record.”
John Donnelly, Manager of ‘Time 2 Change’ said that by talking to the young people and challenging their behaviour you can help them see the error of their ways.
“We tell these young people ‘if you commit a crime that will be with you until the day you die’.
“The one thing I always say to them is what if they change their lifestyle and get married and have children and then they want to take the children to Disneyland, but they can’t get into America because they have criminal record.
“We’ve had some really, really good successes over the years through the work we do.
“There are young people that have gone on to do great things.”