Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Challenges Facing Community-based Cancer Support Services: Discussion
Ms Gemma Fort:
To add to that, that is our biggest risk. In the case of my centre, Recovery Haven Kerry, our operating budget has increased hugely since 2019. Post pandemic, more clients are coming through the doors. We have identified that we have kind of hit a threshold that we know we can raise locally through fundraising, but we are competing with other cancer charities that are doing very good work. As Mr. Flaherty said, there are many worthy causes in the community. People are now looking at doing GoFundMe pages, so that has changed. The gap for us is getting bigger between what we know we can generate and what we need to keep providing a quality service that adheres to good governance. That is the biggest risk as employers. Each of our centres employs staff to provide the service. Unless we have good governance in place, it is very risky for both-----
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