Murphy calls for Minister Zappone to intervene over closure of Phoenix Centre in Ballaghaderreen

*Funding withdrawn from Youth Work Ireland projects which catered for over 500 young people per week*

Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon/Galway Eugene Murphy has called on the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone to immediately make a statement in relation to the closure of the Phoenix Youth Centre in Ballaghaderreen which was a vital service for the area with upwards of 500 young people using the centre on a weekly basis.

Deputy Murphy said he was alarmed by the decision of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Justice to withdraw funding for  Youth work Ireland North East Galway in respect a special youth project in Ballaghaderreen and their youth information centre funding. The Fianna Fáil TD said that the funding had been withdrawn without any real warning and the organisation had been left in freefall with very little assistance from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

“The Phoenix Centre in Ballaghaderreen is a vital service and was extremely popular with 120 young people using the service on a daily basis which is over 500 people per week going through the doors. The youth information services project was funding by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs while the Department of Justice also funded a Youth Diversion Project and both strands of funding were withdrawn. I understand that the City of Dublin Youth Services Board (CDYSB) carried out a review of Youth Work Ireland Roscommon North East Galway in 2015. They produced two reports recommending a series of changes under two headings, Finance & Governance and Service Provision. A number of recommendations were made and a number of issues had been addressed while the organisation was making progress on a number of other recommendations but despite the progress which was being made the Department pulled the plug on funding leaving the Phoenix Centre unable to open its doors in January and I understand it is now closed. I believe getting an urban based Dublin board to carry out a review is another deliberate attempt by Government to run down services in rural Ireland and this is devastating news for the hundreds of young people in the area who relied on the centre,” said Deputy Murphy.

The Fianna Fáil TD said he had already been in touch with the Minister’s office in relation to the matter had had received the following reply. “I raised this matter with the Minister’ office as soon as I became aware of the situation and this is the reply which I received: ‘The Department of Children and Youth Affairs authorised the decision to permanently cease funding to Ballaghederreen Special Project for Youth and to the Roscommon Youth Information Centre on foot of advices from officials within the Department. The decision was informed in part by the findings of a Service Review and of the Finance and Governance Review conducted by City of Dublin Youth Service Board. 

‘The primary rationale for the permanent cessation of funding was that the Department had received no assurances that youth services being provided by Youth Work Ireland Roscommon Galway North East were to a level that met the needs of young people in the region. Nor was the Department provided with any assurances as to the organisation’s capacity to support, operate and manage the provision of quality youth services and to make good use of Government funding for these purposes.’

Deputy Murphy said that he was not satisfied with this response and he was now seeking urgent clarification and a statement on the matter from the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone.

Deputy Murphy calls for immediate action to save the Expressway bus service

 Fianna Fáil TD Eugene Murphy has called on the Minister for Transport to ensure that the Expressway bus service that is vital for rural Ireland is saved.

“Bus Éireann’s financial position has worsened considerably since Minister Ross took office. However it seems that the Minister is oblivious to this problem and is unaware that the company is on the verge of shutting down many of its key routes serving large swathes of the country,” said Deputy Murphy.

“Bus Éireann reported losses of up to €5.6 million for 2015, an estimated €6m in 2016 and now it is anticipated that losses will exceed €7m for 2017. This is deeply worrying considering the improving economy and demonstrates that there is a fundamental problem at the heart of Bus Éireann’s operations.

“The semi-state company faults some Expressway services for the significant mounting losses.  As a result, the company is planning to make sweeping changes to routes serving vast swathes of the country, which it will publish in an upcoming report by Grant Thornton auditors.

“If the Expressway services to Dublin or other cities is cut this will further the economic gap between rural and urban Ireland. This is further evidence of the neglect of rural Ireland by Fine Gael and their Independent colleagues. Rural isolation is becoming one of the most worrying prospects for my constituents and if we lose vital bus route services such as the Expressway service from Ballina to Dublin which is vital for the movement of people from the West of Ireland to Dublin, it will leave our students, tourists, day shoppers and many more commuters without any form of transport that will get them to the small villages and towns along the way for whom this service is vital.”

“2.4 billion is set aside in the capital spending plan 2016-2022 to build a Metro rail link from Dublin city centre to Dublin Airport however it has been suggested that a Dart link would be built at a fraction of the cost, estimated at just 200 million and would do the same job of connecting rail links to the airport. I suggest looking carefully at this saving and using this funding to ensuring that the whole of the country has a decent cost effective bus service “In response to questioning from Fianna Fáil on this issue, the Minister for Transport has continually shirked his responsibility to maintain an adequate level of public transportation for rural towns. I would like to see a meaningful discussion between the agencies to ensure that Expressway service is not cut back so that the Bus Éireann service for Dublin can carry on its loss making ways.

“The Minister needs to act now to ensure services are maintained or put a plan in place for private operators to apply for bus route licenses. The private sector may well be able to step into the breach and offer a competitive service that ensures that routes are covered.” 

“Without doubt the Route Licensing system needs to be reviewed. In particular, the NTA needs to be given greater licensing powers to approve or reject route amendments by Bus Éireann and private operators. 

“Fianna Fáil will be bringing forward legislation to make these changes. It is important that the future of Bus Éireann is secured, but the semi-state company must not abandon its obligation to serve communities right across the country. As a semi state company it must not be allowed cherry pick the best bits of the company ie the Dublin routes and leave the rest of the country to fend for itself.” 

Future consultation planned with local agencies in relation to Syrian refugee centre in Ballaghaderreen

Local community grant fund to be established to assist proposals for integration

Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon/Galway Eugene Murphy has welcomed the fact that future consultation is planned with various local agencies in County Roscommon in relation to the opening of the Syrian refugee centre in Ballaghaderreen. Deputy Murphy was speaking after the special Oireachtas briefing with Minister of State David Stanton which took place in Leinster House this afternoon. Senior officials from the Department of Justice noted that while there was not a “specific pot of money” being allocated to Ballaghaderreen they stressed that the Department of Education, the HSE would have ring fenced money in their annual budgets to deal with whatever additional services and resources were required.

“Minister Stanton indicated that a mobile medical assessment unit would be in place in Dublin when the 80 Syrian refugees initially arrive in Ireland to assess their needs and this would take the pressure off local services. The informed us that HSE officials had been in touch with GPs in Ballaghaderreen today and one of the points I stressed was the need to fast track a child psychologist for County Roscommon as we do not currently have one in the county and many of these children will undoubtedly have suffered untold trauma while some of the adults may have been subject to torture etc so I think it’s vital that post is in place before the refugees arrive in Ballaghaderreen in early March.

“I welcome the fact that the Minister did indicate that there would be further consultation with various local agencies and they have been in touch with CEO of Roscommon County Council Eugene Cummins in that regard. A special community fund will also be put in place which will allow local groups to apply for small grants of between 5,000 to 10,000 euro if they have proposals for projects to help the refugees integrate into the local community.

The Minister also said that where possible goods, services and staff for the refugee centre would be sourced locally however when we pressed him on this point it emerged that it is not stipulated in the contract that this must be the case but officials indicated that they were anxious for the locality to benefit from an employment and services point of view.

“Senior Officials also said that the company with whom they have taken the contract with for the provision of the refugee centre is a different company to the one which has purchased 60 houses in Ballaghaderreen. Officials also said they would take a very hands on approach in the centre and they would be there on a weekly basis to ensure the co-ordination and links between the refugees and local agencies was a smooth as possible.

A breakdown of the group also revealed  37 children will be included in the group of  82 Syrians coming to Ballaghaderreen – that figure includes 13 children under the age of four, 19 children in the five to 12 age category and 4 children over the age of thirteen. The Minister indicated that a pre-school may be set up  in the centre for the young children and that where possible the older children would attend local schools but this depended on the individual child as some of them may have never been in a school setting so in that case it may be necessary to set up a school setting in the actual refugee centre.

The Minister also indicated that they were open to the possibility of the leisure centre being opened in the hotel if an operator was interested and this could benefit the local community while he also stated that if the local community wanted to use meeting rooms etc in the former hotel this could also be accommodated,” said Deputy Murphy.