Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his commitment to family resource centres. They are an essential public support service. The centres in Cork South-West represent the incredible success they can be in helping groups and individuals. However those same centres also illustrate the weakness in the model, with insufficient funding and reliance on local goodwill and circumstances, rather than systematic supports. The funding allocations the Minister of State mentioned are welcome and great but they do not address the issues in Skibbereen and Bandon where the centres need capital funding more immediately.

There has to be a way for the Minister of State's Department to work with the Department of Health to acquire a building or appropriate facilities to ensure the future of the services because, to be honest, when we are going about this and we meet, we do not even really know whether we should look for a greenfield site or HSE-owned buildings. We do not know how we should go about it or what we should do. I know the Minister of State is familiar with the type of work family resource centres do and their importance. The Minister of State said he sympathises with them but I am asking him to work with them as well.

The family resource centre model, like much of our social and healthcare infrastructure, sees the provision of service through bodies separate from the State. While this offers increased local independence and capacity to respond to issues, it also places undue responsibility on volunteers. The boards of management for both centres do tireless work, not only in keeping them operating but also in trying to guarantee their future. They need the Minister of State to support them in supporting their communities. If the Minister of State can, I would love for him to visit the centres and meet locals, staff and volunteers there to see what difference they can make and how much this support is needed.

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