Erris gets status and other opportunities should arise nationally - Tusla

Following the successful campaign by members of the community in Erris, Co. Mayo (see previous page) to secure funding for a family support project, we asked Tusla a few questions about the programme and prospects for other communities to apply for funding.

How many employees does Tusla fund in a typical FRC?

Tusla - Child and Family Agency provides funding to support the work of 121 Family Resource Centres (FRCs) throughout the country. This financial support is provided by way of a contribution towards the running costs of the centres, to cover the employment of two to three members of staff and some overhead costs. Funding with each FRC is agreed annually with Tusla Commissioning and Service Level Agreements are signed. Tusla provides ‘core funding’ to FRCs which acts as ‘animation / stimulation funding’ for targeted marginalised communities. This funding is not exclusively for ‘Tusla clients’ but is also to leverage broader community developments. In addition, some local Tusla Areas fund FRCs to provide additional and specific Tusla related services.

In 2014 the Family Resource Centre Programme incorporated into Tusla National Office and became part of Tusla, the core budget that the FRCs received is historical and came from the Family Support Agency. The Family Support Agency ceased to exist in 2014. The variation in Core Funding is historical.

When is the last time the FRC national programme was open for applications?

The Family Resource Centre Programme expanded in 2018 to welcome an additional 11 new FRCs into the national programme and there would also have been applications that did not become FRCs. It is important to remember that this does not mean that those local areas do not have a need for some type of family support. Tusla funds many family support services directly and through community and voluntary organisations. Family Support is not the exclusive remit of FRCs.

What’s the difference between an FRC and an FRSS?

A Family Resource Centre core-funded by Tusla is part of a previous National Programme and while each FRC is an independent organisation, the 121 of them have a national alliance resulting from the original programme. This is helpful in terms of achieving some consistency.

Tusla report to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in relation to the FRC programme.

An FRSS is essentially a generic title to recognise that we are funding in Erris a new Family Resource Support Service that is not part of the FRC programme but brings all of the same benefits. If the Minister opens a new round of expressions of interest in FRCs, which he is considering for the coming years, then Erris and many others will be able to apply.

First Civic Forum Held

Between Community Sector And The State

• Minister of State Joe O'Brien, Minister Heather Humphreys and Taoiseach Micheál Martin joined 130 delegates from the community and voluntary and state sectors at The Aviva Stadium, Dublin. The Civic Forum was called to start a national dialogue to explore how to strengthen public participation in policy making.

Around 130 people took part in the first civic forum for formal dialogue between national and local government and the community and voluntary sector, held on November 21 in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Organised by the Department of Rural and Community Development, it was attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Minister Heather Humphreys and Minister of State Joe O'Brien.

The theme for the day was ‘Co-Creating a Shared Future' and included:

• National and international speakers and roundtable discussions;

• A review of current deliberative and participative approaches to policy making;

• Opportunities to influence how public policy is made;

• Open dialogue between the Sector and the State.

The commitment to set up a civic forum was made in August 2019 with the launch of ‘Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities’, the State’s first five-year strategy to support the community and voluntary sector.

Attendees at the Aviva included community and voluntary sector leaders and representatives, officials working in local, regional and national government, statutory bodies and government agencies as well as academics and others interested in the event.

• ABOVE: Mauricio Mejia, OECD, was one of the speakers. He said a civic forum was "important because of the size of the community and voluntary sector in Ireland" and spoke of the need for "amplifying underrepresented voices".