Ms Claire Dineen:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to make this presentation. I am the project manager of a family resource centre in Ballymote in south Sligo and I am currently the chair of the Family Resource Centre National Forum which is made up of 106 family resource centres throughout the country. My colleague, Packie Kelly, is a project manager in Mullaghmatt in County Monaghan and he also will give a short address.

The National Forum of Family Resource Centres represents 106 projects which are based in towns and villages throughout the country. The first family resource centre was established in 1994 and the programme has significantly expanded since the report of the Commission of the Family in 1998. Since May 2003, the Family Support Agency has managed our programme which includes monitoring, financial support and policy work. Family resource centres promote a community-based, needs-led, whole-of-family approach. The family resource centres assist in the delivery of a community-based approach. We regard family support and child welfare as two sides of the same coin. We have a strong model of social entrepreneurship. Our work is outsourced by the Family Support Agency on behalf of the State and in turn quality community based services are offered at value for money. This was particularly highlighted at the Family Support Agency conference last autumn. We have a highly adaptable approach to service delivery; outputs change with community needs. For instance, at the start of the recession family resource centres were heavily involved in supporting jobseekers and there has now been a shift to supporting people who are long-term unemployed through helping them become more involved in their community through initiatives such as the men's sheds. Prior to 2011 we had people coming in to support our programmes and now these people are coming in and we are supporting them.

Work with the community is very much individually based and the approach is not to stigmatise or label people who come in to access services. The range of services offered in the centres is such that when a person comes in the door the service he or she seeks is not identified. Our centres could have a parent and toddler group, a counselling service, addiction services or an art group. When a person enters a centre, it is not identified that he or she is in the centre because of a particular issue and there is anonymity in that respect.

I will refer to some highlights from the family resource centres work up to 2011. Some 305 new community groups and initiatives were formed with the direct assistance of the family resource centres. Some 17,800 people completed education courses. Those courses were held in the centres because many of those people had a fear of returning to school and the classroom scenario. It was much more successful for them to come into the centres for those courses. Some 11,600 completed training courses. Some 157,000 people got advice and information and some 65,000 people were referred on to other agencies. More than 17,00 professional counselling sessions were delivered. I will now hand over to my colleague, Mr. Packie Kelly.