Local press coverage of McCarthy Cuts threat to CDPs
This file contains a dozen reports from the provincial press around the country on CDP cutbacks
There is also news on the future of State funding for Community Development initiatives and the campaign to retain support on: and on and on and on
- Compiled by Allen Meagher, ‘Changing Ireland’
Argus.ie
Vital local project under threat
LE CHEILE HIT BY CUTBACKS
By Anne CAMPBELL Wednesday August 19 2009
A VITAL community project that has been helping people in Cox's Demesne for more than a decade is facing closure because of savage government cuts to funding.
The Cox's Community Development Project, Le Cheile, has been hit by two cuts to core funding in the past six months and coordinator Maurice McConville fears that more cash will be taken off them – possibly as early as next month.
Now Mr McConville and other community workers are asking the people of Cox's Demesne and Dundalk to support them in their fight to keep this vital service open.
Since 1999, Le Cheile has been working for the people of the estate and have organised a wide variety of training and education courses.
Hundreds of people have received support from Le Cheile including tenants and residents groups, lone parents, women's groups, youth organisations, Travellers and the elderly.
Recently, they have been working to address the increasing drug problem on the estate and have secured funding for research into the best way to tackle it.
But all that could go by the wayside if government cuts, which have amounted to more than 12% in the first six months of this year alone, continue.
'As a community development project, Le Cheile is there for the people who are not well off and who may need support,' said Mr McConville.
'Unfortunately, the work we do is at risk. This year, our budgets have been cut severely and ma rg ina l i s ed communities throughout the country are having services cut back because of the mistakes of the banks.
'Le Cheile is in danger of running out of money before the end of the year. We understand that the government has to act but cutting organisations like Le Cheile doesn't make sense as we have been evaluated and are proven to generate nearly three times what we cost.'
Mr McConville said it was shocking the group was being asked to cut budgets three-quarters of the way through the year.
He said: 'We are getting savaged and we are asking Minister Curran for a meeting about the issue. The core funding pays the staff wages and if we can't pay them, they are gone.'
He urged people to get in touch with their local TDs and councillors about the issue and to attend the Le Cheile AGM next month.
- Anne CAMPBELL
LEAD STORY IN EVENING ECHO
NOTE: There was front page coverage in Cork’s ‘Evening Echo’ on Sept 8th, 2009, with the lead story given over to the CDP protest and the involvement of Cork CDPs. Mahon CDP co-ordinator Viv Sadd was interviewed. No internet version available, as may be the case with other press coverage.
As published in Limerick Leader, Friday Sept 18th, ’09 (but not on their website)
Limerick communities protest at McCarthyism
By Allen Meagher
1200 people from 180 of the most marginalised communities in Ireland marched in protest at cuts to Community Development Projects (CDPs) in Dublin last week and there were 50 Limerick people among them.
Volunteers and workers from local projects in Moyross, Southill, St. Mary’s, St. Munchin’s and Our Lady of Lourdes marched with ‘Changing Ireland’ which has a national remit and the Limerick Women’s Network with a citywide focus.
All are worried they may be closed down by year’s end and Fine Gael’s Kieran O’Donnell is this week among the TDs putting questions to the Dail over the situation.
It was a symbolic march – we brought along a coffin and laid it at the steps of the Department of Defence. We were motivated by the likelihood that poor communities will be robbed of the little resources they have to keep the banks afloat. The protest was led by SIPTU and was unique in that managers (who are volunteers) and workers marched together. As one journalist remarked to me, “That’s a first for Dublin.”
It certainly doesn’t do much for volunteering to be cutting the ground from under volunteers at a time when the interest in volunteering is on the rise. For communities, however, the impact of cutting CDPs and other community resources will be devastating.
As one Limerick politician astutely remarked this week, there is no sense in investing in regeneration while cutting down what resources and projects are already there. John Gilligan is right and this is happening at a time when many CDPs are experiencing a threefold increase in the number of people coming to them for advice and support because of the social impact of the downturn.
The demands on projects are rising while – because of cuts - they are having to scale back on the services they provide rather than expand them. For example, across the country, we’ve already seen the demise of many homework clubs, projects to support older people, suicide prevention work and so on.
To many people, these projects are a lifeline. Limerick Women’s Network say that without them, a lot of women they work with will have nowhere else to go. The project is run by passionate volunteers and they won’t go down without a real fight.
It’s the same with the other projects and if the Government thought that CDPs would be a soft touch, they were wrong. Similarily, with Family Resource Centres, they too are campaigning against cuts that would kill communities and are determined to resist closures to the last.
CDPs marched because we’ve been singled out for 15% cuts so far this year and another round of cuts is threatened this year, with the closure of projects almost certain to happen at the end of the year.
To justify future cuts, the Government rolled out a right-wing economist Colm McCarthy whose Bord Snip report has had a more galvanizing effect on communities than anything I could write. McCarthy wrote about community groups saying, “There is little evidence of positive outcomes.”
That comment includes the PAUL Partnership and partnership companies and CDPs across the country.
Bord Snip recommended cuts that could also see two Family Resource Centres in Limerick city close. Does anyone seriously think these supports are anything but an absolute necessity?
McCarthy went so far as to say the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs should be closed.
One of the main reasons I marched on September 8th and will march again on September 30th and November 5th is that I’m protesting in solidarity with the many people in this country who don’t care about cuts because they are having a tough enough time getting through today, never mind tomorrow.
With support from SIPTU, we’re organising a national march for everyone concerned against across-the-board cuts to communities that will take place on September 30th in Dublin. More importantly for us here in the Mid-West, there will be a similarily-themed march through Limerick on November 5th with people coming in from Clare, Tipperary, Cork and the county to leave some shoe-leather on O’Connell Street.
If all the cuts are implemented in spite of our campaign, our communities will rot.
Allen Meagher is founding editor of ‘Changing Ireland’, the national community development magazine which is based in Moyross and managed by volunteers from the local CDP. He is a member of the National Community Development Forum, the CDPs’ national body, and prior to ‘Changing Ireland’, he worked with APSO in West Africa as a full-time volunteer.
Wednesday, 9th September, 2009 5:00pm
Cuts threaten 60 community groups
CAPTION WITH PIC: Almost 1,000 supporters of Community Development Projects marched on the Department of Finance yesterday to fight for the retention of such projects, contrary to cuts proposed.
Supporters of some 60 community and voluntary groups in Co. Cavan participated in a march in Dublin yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) on the Department of Finance to demonstrate their opposition to any funding cuts for such projects.
The South West Cavan Community Development Project currently supports over 60 groups over an area of 200 sq. miles, which takes the areas of Crosserlough, Ballymachugh, Mullahoran, Denn and parts of Lower Lavey and Ballintemple.
Funding to the project has been cut by 17% or €22,440 since January 2009. The McCarthy report recommends that funding to CDPs and local partnerships be cut by €44 million. The CDPs claim this would force the closure of many schemes.
Based in Kilnaleck, the South West Cavan Community Development Project is a rural community development project, which was set up in 2002 by a steering group of local people. The project is run by a voluntary board of management made up of ten volunteers who employ two full-time staff.
Darragh O'Connor, SIPTU organiser of the march told The Anglo-Celt that and any further cuts to community development projects would be met with fierce opposition.
The 180 CDPs are involved in a range of programmes including childcare, meals on wheels, after schools projects, youth groups, literacy and drug rehabilitation. They support the most vulnerable people in communities including children, loan parents, the elderly, young people, recovering drug addicts and the disabled. "Such cuts are hugely detrimental in a time when the services of community development projects are more in demand than ever given the current economic downturn and sharp rise in unemployment. Any further cuts in funding will seriously jeopardise the future of South West Cavan Community Development Project," claimed Mr. O'Connor.
He adds that the implications of closures are stark. "Disadvantaged communities will be further undermined and there will be consequences for crime, employment, training, education, and anti-social behaviour."
South West Cavan CDP is calling on Minister Brendan Smith and Senator Diarmuid Wilson to declare their support for CDPs to maintain these projects at all costs.
Local Groups Call for Support
September 3rd, 2009
THREE local Community Development Programmes are calling on local TDs to support a protest meeting and a march against cuts in funding that will take place next week. Blayney Blades CDP is based in the Íontas, Conabury and covers Castleblayney and the mid-Monaghan area, Drumlin CDP is based in Carrickmacross and operates in rural South Monaghan and Dochas for Women is based in Monaghan and covers Monaghan town and its surrounding areas. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht (DCRGA) has cut funding for Community Development Programmes by 15 percent this year and the CDPs fear that if the McCarthy Report recommendation that funding for CDPs and Local Partnerships be slashed by €44 million is implemented, schemes across the country will be forced to close. Since their formation the local CDPs have worked tirelessly to ensure that the voice of local communities and their families are heard. They have been enabled and supported to engage in education and training programmes which has resulted in many of them building their confidence, entering the workforce, returning to further education and becoming active members of their own communities. CDPs also provide a counselling service, which according to a local spokesperson will be in increased demand given the impact the current economic climate is having on family life. The spokesperson warned that the implications of closures are stark. They believe that disadvantaged communities will be further undermined and there will be consequences for crime, employment, training, education, and anti-social behaviour. The local groups are urging government TDs’ Rory O’Hanlon, Margaret Conlon, Brendan Smith, Fine Gael TD Seymour Crawford and Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin to declare their public support for the cause at a march in Dublin on Tuesday next, 8 September. To highlight the crisis facing CDPs there will be a free bus that will travel to the meeting and march at SIPTU, Liberty Hall, Eden Quay, Dublin 1 beginning at 1pm. For more information telephone Blayney Blades on 042 97 53410 / 412, Dochas for Women on 047 71640 or Drumlin CDP on 042 966 2958.
Kerryman.ie
Protestors 'shocked and dismayed' at proposed cuts
By SIMON BROUDER Wednesday August 19 2009
OVER 200 people have taken to the streets of Tralee to protest against cuts proposed by An Bord Snip Nua which they say will have a devastating effect on the disabled and their families and carers.
Led by the Kerry County Network of People with Disabilities (KCNPD) the protest saw 200 disabled people and carers march down Denny Street on Monday afternoon before staging a rally on the steps of the Ashe Hall.
Among the protestors were representatives of SIPTU, the People Before Profit movement and various Kerry community development and rural transport groups.
Representatives of Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein also took part in the march.
The protest was organised as the first step in a campaign by the KCNPD campaign to prevent proposed cuts to disability and carers allowances, cuts to health care programmes for the disabled, cuts in funding to community development projects and proposed cuts to rural transport schemes.
Margaret O'Shea of the KCNPD said the non-political community group was "dismayed" at recommendations contained in the McCarthy report.
"We are shocked and dismayed at the recommendations in the McCarthy Report that impact directly on the lives of people with disabilities their families, and carers," said KCNPD representative Margaret O'Shea.
"We agree with best value for money for people with disabilities, but without keeping us central to all decisions that affect all aspects of our lives it will end up costing more money," she said.
"Civil Servants and economists have very little grasp of the reality of disadvantage and the steps that are taken by Community Groups every day in Ireland to overcome it," Margaret O'Shea said.
"We have worked long and hard for years to reach some semblance of equality in Ireland to throw it all away now would be a waste of resources, the kind of resources that are community infrastructure and support that the most vulnerable need," she said.
Addressing the protest from the steps of the Ashe Hall Margaret O'Shea called on all groups affected by the planned cuts to stand together in opposition.
Chairman of the NCNPD Noel O'Neill used his speech to accuse those behind the proposed cuts of being out of touch with the reality of life for the disabled.
"We don't require people in fancy suits, on fat salaries, sitting around fancy tables deciding what's best for us. I for one have never been consulted about my needs by the people claiming to represent me," he said.
He called on the Government to consult those affected by disability and in rural areas before implementing cuts that would case "untold misery".
- SIMON BROUDER
6-40a4-41dc-81ec-7b22bda2d91d
COMMUNITIES RALLY TO OPPOSE BORD SNIP CUTBACKS
08 September 2009
C.D.P groups travel to Dublin for protest.
Community workers from Cork and around the country are to stage a protest in Dublin today over proposed funding cuts to the country's Community Development Projects. Workers and management committees say if the recommendations of the McCarthy Report are implemented , there will be widespread closures and job losses. Community Development Projects help the most vulnerable people in society by providing childcare programmes, meals on wheels and drug rehabilitation services. In Cork city and suburbs there are eight C.D.P`s doing invaluable work .. Project Co-ordinator in Mahon CDP, Viv Sadd has organised a group to take part in the protest in Dublin today ...
McCarthy report threatens community life
01 September 2009
The cutbacks proposed in Colm McCarthy’s ‘An Bord Snip Nua’ report pose a serious threat to community and voluntary life in Clare.
That’s according to the Irish National Community and Voluntary Forum (INCVF), the representative body for 22,000 community and voluntary organisations throughout Ireland. The organisation has 575 affiliates in Co. Clare
In its response to the McCarthy report, INCVF chairperson, Tom McGettrick said: “If implemented in full, the McCarthy report would result in the disappearance of Clare’s community and voluntary life.
“Across Clare, community and voluntary organisations provide a hugely valuable service through the organisation of activities in schools, parish halls, community centres and other venues at the heart of Irish society.
“Our member groups work with people with disabilities, our older citizens, youth groups, the homeless, poorer members of the community and the unemployed. The McCarthy report totally fails to put a value on these activities.” Mr. McGettrick said the Government has a responsibility to analyse the true cost of implementing the recommendations of the McCarthy report.