Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad this morning. I thank her for engaging with me on her availability and I appreciate the effort she made to be here this morning.

The F2 Centre in Fatima, Dublin 8, is a community-based family resource centre doing valuable work for a disadvantaged community in the south-west inner city. There have been a number of issues with the family support services provided to that community by the Rialto Springboard project. The board of management was informed on 18 November that the family support service would be relocated from the Rialto centre to its own offices, which has caused extreme alarm and concern in the local community.

The service was founded in 2001 with strong community involvement in governance of the project, including recruitment. In 2007, staff members from statutory organisations were withdrawn from community-based management boards which has had an impact on the integration dimension of the project. The project continued to carry out its responsibilities as a board, including the supervision of the project manager who in turn supervised staff and brought any staff and HR matters to the board of management for support. However, in September 2007 a new manager was appointed by Tusla. The board of management was excluded from the recruitment process, which was a radical departure from previous procedures. The relationship between the new manager appointed with new community involvement and the voluntary board has been problematic to say the least. It can, therefore, be no coincidence that Tusla then decided to terminate the service level agreement effective from the end of this month.

While disappointing, members of the community could manage the change as it they were repeatedly assured by Tusla that the family support service would stay in the Fatima centre. For this reason, the announcement that Tusla is relocating the service from the community centre to its own premises as a cost-saving measure was even more of a shock. I struggle to believe that cost savings are the motivation here. The service needs to stay in Fatima. I understand Dublin City Council has communicated regarding keeping the service there and I urge Tusla to engage. Tusla has also claimed the service was too locally focused, which is bizarre as Tusla's own policy supports community-based centres.

There are ongoing staffing issues at the centre. Of four project workers, two have been out sick since February, one handed in their notice and the last has made a complaint. I suggest the HR issues are the real motivation here and it is not fair to the project to claim that cost-saving is the motivation.

A meeting will take place tomorrow between Tusla and community representatives. A strong intervention from the Minister could help keep this service in the community. I urge her to intervene. As those in the community wanted to engage rather than just resist, they have an alternative proposal ready to go for Tusla to allow the service to be kept in the Fatima centre. I urge the Minister to ask Tusla to accept and engage in that process.

The local community is losing a valuable family support service, provided in an integrated support setting. The dedicated staff who have worked for years and in some cases over a decade with the community are left in a very precarious situation.

I urge the Minister to intervene. I have received many letters from parents who avail of that service and benefit from its localised work in an area of significant disadvantage. I remember the family resource centre being developed. From very early on, I was on the canal communities task force which dealt with the regeneration of Fatima. It is a purpose-built building. It is not appropriate to change the structure now when it is doing this work. I would be happy to share with the Minister's office the letters from the families who avail of the service. It is important to listen to their advice in any discussions that might take a service out of a community that has suffered from decades of poverty and inequality.