Kells jobless 'will get no help if centre closes'

With a 120 per cent increase in unemployment over the past month, Kells and north Meath is fast becoming an unemployment blackspot - and the Kells People's Resource Centre has been in the frontline helping people cope with losing their jobs. However, the vital services the centre provides to families, jobseekers and newly unemployed, as well as countless local community groups is now under threat following the recommendation in the McCarthy An Bord Snip report that the Family Support Agency, which funds people's resource centres around the country, should close. The centre in Kells experienced a footfall of 8,000 in 2008 and that is expected to be more than surpassed this year. The Kells centre provides a drop-in support service, education and training, help and support to local families and community groups, counselling, employment rights information and support and public access to computers and the internet as well as many other local services. Outreach services from organisations such as the Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) and Women's Aid are also provided from the centre. Their support is vital to some of the most vulnerable members of local society. If the centre is closed, many of these people will have nowhere to turn, its supporters warn. "Unfortunately, at times of financial hardship, our services will be needed more than ever. Rather than considering closing the centre, they should be developed and expanded," according to Rex Lee, acting chairman of the Kells People's Resource Centre. Project co-ordinator Angela Murphy says that, over the past two years, they have been dealing with unemployed people more and more. "If we are not here, they won't have the supporrt and resources we provide," she said. People applying for jobs can use the facilities in the centre free of charge to produce a CV. Staff will provide help to those unsure of how to put a CV together and will also help prepare people for interviews. The Kells Resource Centre also provides a drop-in support service to members of the local community between 9.30am and 1pm, Monday to Friday. The service deals with individuals with wide-ranging needs and makes referrals to more appropriate services for some of the queries received. The Employment Rights Information Service is is also widely used. According to local town councillor Cllr Tommy Grimes, who operates this service vountarily, there have been a huge number of queries at the centre concerning redundancies and entitlesments in recent times. He said that, over the past two years, they have dealt with 800 people on issues such as minimum notice, unfair dismissal and bullying. "Seven or eight of the cases went to court and we won them all," he said. The outreach services provided by MABS and Women's Aid provides vital support to people from Kells and Angela Murphy says that many of the people using those services would find it very difficult to get to Navan to avail of similar services there. The resource centre provides an affordable and accessible counselling service. Clients pay for this service on a sliding scale, depending on their circumstances and ability to pay. The Swings and Slides Parenting Programme was an initiative of the centre and proved successful and popular with local parents. The centre acts as a support for many local groups, including the Kells Women's Network, Meath Disability Action Group, the Kells Parent & Toddler Group parent support network, local residents' associations and the allotments group. In July, it ran a very popular and successful summer camp for 30 local children. Training courses are provided by the centre and these include computer courses, care skills, English as a second language, personal and interpersonal skills and committee skills training. The loss of all these services would be a major blow to Kells, according to the cathaoirleach of Kells Town Council, Cllr Brian Curran. He described as "frightening" the recommendation to close the centres. "The rescource has become a hub of information and support for the general public and it is an essential service," he said. Cllr Curran has proposed a motion for the next meeting of the local town council calling on the Government to support family rescource centres. County councillor John Farrelly said the closure of the People's Resource Centre must not be allowed to happen. "It is quite obvious that many people in Dublin do not realise the importance of these services for the rural community around the country. The Fianna Fail TDs will have to stand up and be counted on this issue. It should not be allowed to happen at the expense of bailing out the banks," said Cllr Farrelly.