Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 427: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her plans to provide sufficient finance to continue the provision of area co-ordinators in the family mediation service in the southern and western regions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27288/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Family Support Agency funds the Family Mediation Service (FMS), which provides family mediation to separating couples in Ireland. The FMS is a free, professional, confidential service which enables couples, married and non-married, who have decided to separate, or divorce and who together want to negotiate the terms of their separation or divorce with the help of a trained mediator. It assists couples to address the issues on which they need to make decisions including: post-separation living arrangements, finances and parenting arrangements to enable children to have an ongoing relationship with each parent. Some 1,270 couples were assisted in 2008. Funding for the FMS in 2009 amounts to over €3 million.

The service is run by 21 part-time professional Mediators and their supervisory and part-time administrative support staff. There are currently 16 FMS centres throughout the country. Of the 16 centres, 4 are regional offices, open 5 days a week. The four regions are Eastern, Western, Southern and Mid-western. The other 12 centres are part-time offices, open 2.5 days per week.

The FMS has 4 Area Co-ordinator (AC) posts. Each AC has responsibility for 1 regional office and 3 part-time offices. The AC is responsible for all aspects of the day to day management of the FMS in their region, including staff management, service management and managing finance and facilities. The AC is part of the FMS Management Team and assists the FMS Service Manager in the overall management of the FMS.

Following a Government Decision, no public service vacancy arising with effect from 27 th March 2009 may be filled by recruitment, promotion or payment of an allowance. Neither should any temporary or fixed term contracts be extended or renewed. Any exceptions to this principle require the prior sanction of the Minister for Finance.

Several vacancies in the FMS occurred from mid-May onwards, most of which were immediate, front-line posts. Following their consideration of the Family Support Agency's submission, the Department of Finance sanctioned the temporary filling of 6 front-line posts to enable the continuation of the mediation service to the public.

In June 2009, two AC posts (Southern and Western regions) became vacant. Sanction has been sought from the Department of Finance for the filling of these posts on a temporary basis. This would facilitate the Family Support Agency to review its structures and put in place a plan to address the loss of these two posts. This matter is with the Department of Finance for their consideration.

The Government's support for families remains strong. The Family Support Agency has been allocated funding of almost €36 million for 2009. This includes funding of over €18 million for the Family Resource Centre Programme, supporting 107 FRCs nationwide. It also includes funding of over €11 million being granted to some 600 voluntary and community organisations providing marriage, relationship, child and bereavement counselling services.