Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The 108 family resource centres throughout the country do valuable work. They presented their pre-budget submission yesterday. They are governed by the Family Resource Centre National Forum, their representative body. As somebody who managed a community development project, I know at first hand the valuable work done by these centres to combat disadvantage, and strengthen and empower children, families and communities. It is vital that this work is underpinned and given the appropriate resources.

They are operating on a budget of €12.2 million, but to do the work they need to do, they need €16 million, which is not much more. The funding body is Tusla. The budget for the family resource centres represents only 2% of the entire Tusla budget. Some 20% of these projects are at risk of closing and many staff across the family resource centres have been put on notice. That is not good either for the staff involved or for the people they serve. The issue needs to be addressed immediately. I call on the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Minister for Health to come to the House to have a discussion around the excellent value for money these family resource centres deliver on the ground in their communities in the areas of domestic violence and mental health, and on many other issues which help families and communities which have suffered as a result of the under-resourcing of the mental health budget and the non-implementation of A Vision for Change. These centres are at the coal-face and need to be funded and resourced. We cannot have staff in family resource centres who are operating on their own. There are real health and safety issues involved and I would appreciate it if the Minister would come in to discuss this.