Budget cuts to CE schemes snatch money from local jobs and services

Community Employment under threat from FG/Labour Budget

» BY MARK MOLONEY

DRASTIC CUTS to Community Employment (CE) schemes are already having a massive impact on communities across the state and leave many of them fearful for the quality and scope of existing services on the ground if not their very future.

In December’s Budget 2012, funding for CE schemes was cut from €1,500 to €500 per participant. This devastating blow sparked angry scenes in the Dáil as Sinn Féin and other Opposition parties accused the Government of butchering the Social Welfare Bill.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton (Labour) has claimed that these cuts will not result in any CE schemes being closed. Sylvia Ryan, a co-ordinator with ICTU, says that 24 Congress Resource Centres for the Unemployed around the state could see closures as a result of the cuts. “Schemes are sponsored by voluntary boards of management and running costs are covered from within the materials and training budget. The cuts mean that sponsoring a CE scheme may no longer be viable,” she says.

Cork East Sinn Féin TD Sandra McLellan told An Phoblacht that CE schemes play an important role in the lives of many in her constituency.

“The likes of Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh performs an invaluable role in combating social exclusion and isolation in the east Cork area through the arts. In times of crisis the services they provide are in even greater demand. They deserve recognition, appropriate support and encouragement. That the Government continues its assault on them is a damning reflection on their idea of what counts for a society,” Sandra said.

ICTU says that 24 Congress Resource Centres for the Unemployed around the state could see closures as a result of the cuts

Meanwhile, in Donegal, there have been a number of public meetings organisaed by SIPTU on the issue of cuts with protests taking place in Letterkenny and Gaoth Dobhair. During these protests the offices of Labour Senator Jimmy Harte and Fine Gael TDs Joe McHugh and Minister Dinny McGinley were picketed by hundreds of angry citizens. Speaking to An Phoblacht, the Sinn Féin TD for Donegal North-East, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, said there is widespread anger across the county:

“The impact of this economic crisis has been particularly horrendous in Donegal with one in three workers out of full-time employment and emigration rife across the county. CE schemes are at the frontline in all of this, retraining the unemployed participants and maintaining vital community services when morale is so low and the need never stronger.

“The Government needs to dramatically increase CE schemes and not cut them but, as with much of their approach to this economic crisis, there is just no logic. It is just about sacrificing the hopes of our people to feather the nest of the wealthy international elite who recklessly gambled on private Irish banks.”

Enda changing his tune on CE

APPARENTLY Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was not always a fan of cuts to Community Employment (CE) schemes. Here’s what he said about cuts to CE programmes in his home county of Mayo (while in opposition) in May 2003:

“Schemes aimed at reducing long-term unemployment and social exclusion in the county have suffered severe setbacks due to Budget cuts and to changes in eligibility criteria. Community Employment schemes in Mayo have been reduced in numbers by 23% this year, and are finding it increasingly difficult to get funding from partnership groups because of Budget cutbacks. Losses to the schemes affect not only those who depend on them to earn a living but also the many communities where the schemes provide invaluable services, most notably island areas and the more remote regions of the county.”

Community Employment (CE) schemes cuts

SENATOR David Cullinane (Sinn Féin) highlights some of the effects cuts to CE funding will have on two schemes in his own area of Waterford City

SAOR Programme

Saor is a scheme for recovering adults who previously had a drug dependency. They do a range of work in supporting drug addicts in furthering their own education. Many course participants have gone on to study at the Waterford Institute of Technology and one in Trinity College Dublin.

CE Supervisor Kelly Hall is concerned that the cut to the training and materials grant by two-thirds will make it very difficult for the scheme to continue long-term and is worried the effect this will have on the CE workers and the wider community.

Compact Community Programme

The Compact Community Programme is based in Lady Lane House, Waterford City, and provides a valuable service to CE participants, older people and the community.

There are currently 35 CE workers: 19 are employed in the preparation and delivery of Meals on Wheels programmes and providing maintainance to homes for the elderly; 16 are employed in caretaking work in the community as well as clerical and administrative work. The scheme is sponsored by South East Simon and Enable Ireland. CE Supervisor Georgina Kiely fears cuts will see many important community services such as Meals on Wheels being curtailed.