Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of funding for the Life Centre in Sunday's Well in Cork city. It is one of four such centres in Ireland. There is one in Belfast, two in Dublin and the one in the heart of the north side of Cork city. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, is familiar with the centre's work. The Department of Education and Skills is certainly familiar with it and the Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, has commented publicly on it, as well as on future funding models and the difficulties the centre is facing.

To give some background information on the type of education provided by the centre, the director estimates the centre turns away two referrals on average a day. The centre is at saturation point and cannot take any more students. The centre has a staff of four full-time teachers and 70 volunteers, the majority of whom are qualified teachers who have been unable to find work. They have a passion for teaching and they are volunteering at the Cork Life Centre. The centre has 40 students, according to the latest figures, and just more than half, some 22, have been referred to the centre by various agencies such as the probation service, the HSE, and the national educational and welfare board. There are 25 full-time students, with the remaining 15 or 16 operating on a part-time basis. Some attend for only eight hours a week but the hours are used for educational advancement.

The difference between the Life Centre and mainstream settings can be summed up in the fact that all students attending the Life Centre have dropped out of mainstream education for varying reasons, some of which may be personal or social. Some students may have mental health issues. The Life Centre offers the opportunity to get back into education outside of mainstream settings. All teaching is on a one-to-one basis. This is something one could never find in a mainstream setting because of resources. The volunteers at the Life Centre and the nature of the work they do means all students receive one-to-one support.

Last year, 15 students completed the junior certificate and, this year, the centre hopes to have three students complete the leaving certificate. The issue facing the Life Centre is the uncertainty of its funding. The main contributor of funds until now was the Christian Brothers, its trustees, but the level of funding offered to the Life Centre by the Christian Brothers has decreased year-on-year. Now, there is no guarantee of funding. Without this, the centre faces huge uncertainty. If the centre goes, many of the students who have dropped out of mainstream education for varying reasons will not have the opportunity of educational achievement in any other setting. That is why I ask the Minister to examine the possibility of the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Justice and Equality jointly sitting down with the trustees, or at least the directors and the teaching staff, to see what remedies can be arrived at to enable the centre to reopen in September. That does not look like it will be the case at present.

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