Kilrush Youth Centre dealt ‘fatal blow’

THE FÁS Community Employment Scheme based at Kilrush Youth Centre is to lose 15 of its current 23 participants between now and January 31 next due to new eligibility guidelines.

 

Gerry O’Malley, who is one of scheme sponsors, along with Fr Michael Sheedy and Aisling Corcoran, has told The Clare Champion that numbers on the scheme may reduce permanently if those now rendered ineligible cannot be replaced by new participants. Those who take part in the scheme receive €20 on top of their normal social welfare allowance for 19 hours work a week.

It has also emerged that people who have been signing on for social welfare and who qualify for schemes similar to the one in Kilrush may not continue to receive social welfare when they finish.

Based in Kilrush Youth Centre, some scheme participants work as assistants in Kilrush Community Hospital, help maintain parish buildings or with the upkeep of four local graveyards.
Participants who have to finish in the immediate future were informed of their fate last week.

“They were expecting to have two years or maybe even three and we had to tell them last week, we’re finishing on January 31. Some of them are finishing at the end of this month,” Gerry O’Malley revealed.

“In our case we have 23 people on the FÁS scheme, plus a supervisor. This year alone we have to replace 15 of them. The normal turnaround would have been between three to five people, which are hard enough to replace.

“Where the problem comes, if you don’t replace the 15 within eight weeks of the scheme starting, whatever you have on hand at the end of the eight weeks, that’s your total for the year. We have to replace them with 15 other people.

“There’s an awful lot of people out of work but you can’t force anybody to go on a scheme. FÁS will try their best to identify people for you and then you interview them and see are they suitable for what you want. As a sponsoring group, we’re still considering our position and whether we’ll renew it or not,” Mr O’Malley explained.

“The real crux of the matter is that a person goes on a scheme after signing on for a year. At the end of that year you’re entitled to go on that scheme if you can get a place.

“Our problem is that the person who goes on the scheme may not be entitled to claim their stamps afterwards. The stamp that’s put up for a FÁS scheme is called an A8, which is a big difference from an A1. To qualify for a payment on an A8 you’d have to have two and a half years of those type of stamps.”

“We’re in a bit of a dilemma now as sponsors as to whether we’ll take people on a scheme under that scenario because you don’t know whether they’ll qualify at the end of the scheme for social welfare payment. Whereas if they stay on the dole, they’re happy enough,” Mr O’Malley added.

Come the end of the 2013 Kilrush scheme, even more of those taking part will have to leave.

“Next year we’ll have to replace 23 people. We’re one of the first schemes to get caught with this but every scheme will get caught next year. All the schemes will be looking for people and trying to get suitable people is the problem.

“The only reason that we’re caught is that FÁS asked us to extend our scheme until the end of January 2013. If we had stayed the way we were, we’d have no problem this year. Changing the eligibility won’t save a cent for FÁS.

“It just makes life a hell of a lot more difficult both for the people on the scheme and the sponsors trying to get people on the scheme. Sponsors have to ensure that there is meaningful work for the people on the scheme,” Mr O’Malley pointed out.

The issue was raised at last Thursday’s Kilrush Town Council meeting by Councillor Tom Prendeville.

“Do you know that the Community Employment Scheme in Kilrush Youth Centre is after being dealt a fatal blow this afternoon?” he asked at the meeting.

“It’s going to affect graveyard maintenance, Kilrush Community Hospital, Kilrush Community Centre, Kilkee Tidy Towns, the cancer centre in Kilkee, the parish office in Kilkee and four or five people are going to be lost from Kilrush Youth Centre. All because some clever person in the department decided to change eligibility,” he added.

Councillor Prendeville maintained that scheme participants had contributed very positively to the area. “We can point, in this town in particular, to the marvellous work that community employment schemes have done in our graveyards, our Tidy Towns and in the walled garden.

“In every aspect of community development, these people have been to the forefront. Their contribution has been rubbished. Who is safe? The only people that are safe are the buddies in the golden circle that exists above in Dáil Éireann,” he claimed.

Councillor Prendeville suggested getting rid of two of Clare’s four TDs in order to save money.

“We have four TDs in Clare. It is costing €200,000 a year for each. If you got rid of two of those, you’d save nearly half a million euro. We have a Senate that Enda Kenny promised he was going to get rid off. But will the turkeys vote for Christmas? I can’t see that happening.

“I’m going to make one prediction here. The Phil Hogans, Alan Shatters, Eamon Gilmores and Enda Kennys of this world, like the last crowd, they’ll take their golden handshakes and they’ll take their gilt-edged pensions and they’ll ride off into the sunset when the time is up for this administration. And it’s not too far away. They’ll give the two fingers to putting people first. There’ll be a new document out from Phil Hogan called ‘Putting Myself First’,” the enraged Kilrush town councillor concluded.