Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

My Department, through the Family Support Agency, has responsibility for a number of initiatives to support families and help prevent relationship breakdown. The scheme of grants for voluntary organisations providing marriage, child and bereavement counselling services is a non-statutory scheme of once-off grants to voluntary organisations providing a range of family counselling services aimed at enhancing stability in family life and assisting families and their members to deal with difficult periods which they may experience.

In 2006 over €9 million was provided by the agency and a total of 541 organisations countrywide have received funding under the scheme. During 2006, the agency also commissioned a review of the scheme and preliminary findings from the report indicate that up to 70,000 people benefit from the counselling provided. Some €10 million has been allocated to the scheme for 2007.

The Family Support Agency also administers the family and community services resource centre, FRC, programme. The emphasis in the family resource centres is on the involvement of local communities in developing approaches to tackle the problems they face and on creating successful partnerships between the voluntary and statutory agencies in the areas concerned. I am pleased to say that the Family Support Agency will deliver on the target set by the Government under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 of including 100 family resource centres in the programme nationwide by the end of 2006.

Government commitment to this key sector has seen an increase in funding from €8.39 million in 2004, to €12.94 million in 2006. The 2007 allocation of €18.75 million more than doubles the level of funding provided in 2004.

The Family Support Agency also has responsibility for the family mediation service, FMS, a free, professional and confidential service for couples, married and non-married, who have decided to separate or divorce and who together want to negotiate the terms of their separation or divorce with the help of a trained mediator.

A number of issues have been highlighted in recent research as contributing to relationship difficulties and family breakdown, including styles of conflict resolution, poor communication and partner criticism, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, child care and unfaithfulness. The FMS suggests that the age profile of their clients may be decreasing with more young and unmarried people seeking mediation.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Family mediation assists separating couples to look at the resources and options open to them and to reach an agreement that meets the interests of both and those of their children. The service has 26 professionally-trained mediators working from a total of 16 centres nationally. Funding for the service has increased from €2.45 million in 2004 to €3.71 million in 2006. Funding will increase to over €3.9 million in 2007. The service assists almost 1,500 couples per annum.

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