Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Family resource centres provide invaluable services in communities across the country. They are a place that people can go to for assistance, support and information on everything from State services and training opportunities to counselling. They are a one-stop-shop for many vulnerable individuals and groups, including lone parent families, older people, people experiencing poverty and addiction and many others.

Given that we know one of the primary indicators of poverty in Ireland is lone parent families, the type of practical supports and intervention this centres offer makes an enormous difference to many families. All of these people can be guaranteed to be treated with respect and dignity. Each centre is staffed by professional social and support workers and led by local volunteers who devote considerable time to improving and ensuring the success. They are also interconnected with other services and groups, helping to link different people. For example, in Dunmanway, meals on wheels and the community garden are based in the centre. In Cork South-West, we are lucky to be served by family resource centres in Castletownbere, Adrigole, Dunmanway, Skibbereen and Bandon. They are an essential support facility embedded into those communities.

However, a major issue they face is security of funding. They receive funding from Tusla, the HSE and other State bodies. However, it is often insufficient, dispersed and is not multiannual. This does not allow them to work to their full potential. I have worked with a few different centres to try to help them navigate the process, but it is byznatine. These issues particularly affect centres in Skibbereen and Bandon which are in search of permanent locations. The Skibbereen centre has had to move several times in the space of a year, from one rented space to another, which is highly disruptive to the service and confusing for people using it. In addition, it is now operating on a year-to-year lease, adding even more uncertainty. It has stated very clearly that the next time it moves needs to be the last time. It desperately needs a permanent location to operate out of. This would enable it to solidify its position, develop its services and free up time currently spent worrying about and seeking space.

The Bandon Family Resource Centre is similarly in need of a new location. The nature of its work demands that the building has spaces for confidential meetings and can allow easy access. I have worked with it on the possibility of finding a HSE or council-owned building to use. However, these centres require proper capital funding to assist them. It should not be up to local volunteers to find spaces or local Deputies to act as some kind of intermediary with State bodies. The centres, like all others, provide absolutely essential services and need to be recognised.

Like many of these organisations, they end up saving the State money through early interventions and on the ground supports. These vital links prevent issues escalating. They need to be recognised in funding terms. First, this means funding levels that reflect their work and allow them to operate to their full capacity. The Department and Tusla need to work together with the Minister for Health and the HSE to establish a system of funding that will give each centre greater assurance and confidence. Every euro invested in them will pay back manifold, as well as the invaluable service they provide in these areas.

Second, and urgently, the Bandon and Skibbereen centres need capital funding for permanent locations. It is currently unclear how they will operate in the long term. There are no natural funding streams for them to apply for. Some resource centres are based in HSE buildings, while others are not. How does a centre go about securing permanent accommodation if there is no clear process to follow? Can the Minister of State please provide some guidance to help address the issue?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I have worked with family resource centres in a voluntary capacity for many years. I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy that they provide an invaluable service. They provide family support for children. Many have community childcare centres attached to them. We have previously spoken about addiction and recovery services. They are the backbone of many rural and urban communities.

The Government greatly appreciates the valuable work of our family resource centres and the work of community and voluntary bodies funded by Tusla Child and Family Agency. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has met a number of family resource centres in recent months to discuss their concerns, and this area of work is a significant priority for him and the Government. Over a period of two years, 2018 and 2019, the Department of Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth provided Tusla with an additional €4.5 million to invest in family resource centre programme. This funding facilitated the expansion of the programme to 121 family resource centres and provided additional supports in core funding for existing family resource centres. In 2020 and 2021, Tusla provided additional supports, as needed, to family resource centres and other funded community and voluntary partners to assist with the pressures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Tusla had a core budget of €18 million for the family resource centre programme.

This is a portion of more than €130 million in Tusla funding to community and voluntary bodies associated with the statutory remit for family support.

In budget 2022, additional funding of €6 million is allocated to enable Tusla to increase supports for the wider community and voluntary sector and for family resource centres, FRCs. An additional €650,000 was allocated to family resource centres in 2021 from the dormant accounts programme. A further €1 million in dormant accounts funding is being provided to FRCs during 2022.

The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is aware that the family resource centres are providing significant levels of assistance on the ground to communities that are welcoming Ukrainian people and he has asked Tusla to continue to support FRCs in those efforts. The Minister will seek funding for family resource centres, specifically for this purpose, during discussions with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

While Tusla is a significant funder of FRCs, other Government bodies also provide substantial funding to FRCs to deliver services on their behalf. A short study of family resource centre funding in 2020 highlighted that, overall, more than half of their funding came from non-Tusla sources such as local authorities, education and training boards, ETBs, the HSE, Pobal and the Department of Social Protection.

Tusla provides a range of family support services, both directly and through its commission partners, which include FRCs. Tusla family support services are delivered on the basis of low, medium and high prevention. Tusla is working to embed and develop a consistent national approach to practice in all its response pathways and this aim is to ensure families receive consistent service levels in all Tusla areas and levels of needs.

With regard to Bandon and Skibbereen, it is incredibly tricky to find premises that are suitable for starters. There is probably no shortage of vacated or empty buildings such as bank buildings etc. but they have to be fitted out. Capital moneys, either through the LEADER programme or the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, could be a mechanism of supporting them to find a permanent home. I absolutely sympathise with both FRCs in trying to secure that. Securing long-term leases on premises is incredibly tricky and making them fit for purpose for the specific needs of families is a considerable challenge.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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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.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Different sources of funding are referred to in the response I have here. In many ways, FRCs are left chasing funding programmes and designing projects around specific funding programmes which can be a considerable task in itself. The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, has through his work rolled out an additional seven pilot community development projects, CDPs, which are most welcome because many of them went the road under the 2009 cohesion programme. We want to specifically focus on and support those community development principles that FRCs do so well.

I will pass on the request to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, about visiting both Bandon and Skibbereen, if he is on a scheduled visit to the area. With regard to the point around the capital funding for securing a premises and whether it should be a greenfield site, it is highly challenging for a voluntary board to try to embark on a process such as that. I have been on voluntary boards of FRCs and I know exactly what it is like. I will take the request that the Deputy put to us here this evening back.

It would be important to try to support the work FRCs are doing and support the voluntary board in trying to achieve its objectives and find permanent homes because these families need all the help they can get in the community and they need the certainty of a permanent home as well. However, with regard to the funding issue, multi-annual funding is a tricky one. There are quite a number of sources of funding, not just Tusla, from which FRCs can draw down, but they need to be in a strong position and have a strong voluntary board to be able to support managers and staff to be able to pursue those streams of funding. I am sorry for the roundabout answer but I will take back the specific request to the Minister for the Deputy.