Monday 16 July 2012

CE Workers Win Massive Victory


SIPTU members have welcomed the decision of the Department of Social Protection to partially restore material and training funding to Community Employment (CE) schemes.

The decision followed an intensive lobbying campaign by trade unions on behalf of CE workers and will ensure schemes across the country can continue to deliver vital services to local communities.

At a meeting on Friday, 13th July, officials at the Department of Social Protection confirmed to a union delegation that the total materials and training budget for 2012 will be €20.5 million, an increase of €9.5 million over the allocation announced in the budget in December 2011.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Darragh O’Connor, said; “The decision to nearly double the CE materials and training budget from what was initially allocated will ensure that no CE scheme will close in 2012. CE schemes employ over 22,000 people and deliver a range of crucial services including childcare, elder care, disability care, drug rehabilitation and environmental work, so it was crucial that the Government decided to re-think this budget cut.”

He added; “The decision of the Department of Social Protection to review its allocation follows an intensive seven month trade union led ‘Save Our Schemes’ campaign. SIPTU members and activists brought their message about the importance of CE schemes to politicians across the country with delegation visits, mass meetings and open days". 

There was also key engagements with Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton and senior Departmental officials by SIPTU General Officers Jack O'Connor (General President) and Patricia King (Vice President) during the campaign.

CE Supervisor and SIPTU activist, Seamie Briscoe, said; “Over 50 Government and opposition TDs heard first hand from workers the impact of cuts and the likely closure of schemes if action wasn’t taken. This decision is recognition of the crucial role that Community Employment plays, not only in the provision of vital services, but also in helping people get back to work. It also shows why community sector workers need to get organised to defend jobs and services.”  

SIPTU Community Sector Organiser, Eddie Mullins, welcomed a further commitment by the Department of Social Protection to a wider review of CE and Community Childcare schemes.

“If the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, is to meet her stated aim of a Scandinavian model of childcare the potential role of Community Employment has to be fully realised,” he said. 

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Looking back for new beginnings: A Community Celebration and Renewal


Notice of Important Conference and Festival

Friday 27 and Saturday 28 July 2012, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1

Sponsored by SIPTU, Liberty Hall and Croke Park, GAA

Thirty years ago, activists from the North Inner City organised a month-long Looking-On Festival to showcase the problems facing this community in a creative and stimulating way. To commemorate this event, we are holding a conference in Liberty Hall over two days as set out in the programme below. 

The chief aim is to look at the changes in the city and community in the intervening period. We are very fortunate to have distinguished and experienced speakers attending such as Professor Ivor Brown, Art O’Briain, Loughlin Kealy, historians Francis Devine, Padraig Yeates and Mary Muldowney and other speakers who were involved in the original Looking-On Festival

It promises to be a creative mix and a harbinger of hope in these gloomy days. You are invited to attend and to take part in this inquiry and renewal for the community movement. Please circulate this to all your contacts. If you are only going to one summer school this year, this is it!


Events & Times 


Friday 7.30- 9.00
Reading of the play The Kips, The Digs, The Village.
Directed by Peter Sheridan and Maggie Byrne.

This was originally performed as part of the Looking-On Festival in 1982. The actors were all from the city and some went on to become professionals. It explores the Inner City of the post- World War 1 period and the emergence of the Irish Free State as a Catholic state. 

In the Bar after the show there will be a showcase of local bands.


Saturday Morning
11-1.00. In the Connolly Room, Liberty Hall
This session will give perspectives on labour, class, community and women in the struggles for improvement in the city since 1913.
Francis Devine, Padraig Yeates, Mary Muldowney


Saturday 2.15-2.45

In the main auditorium
Paper reflecting the changes in the city in the past thirty years. These would include housing, jobs, drugs ethnicity, facilities, education and the community sector itself.
Theme is “Changed city, same challenges” delivered by Patricia McCarthy and Mick Rafferty on behalf of the festival collective.


2.45-3.15
Buzz groups and responses from the audience.


3.30-5.30 (or beyond if necessary)
This session explores human development as the core aim of community development and explores where the personal, the creative and the social merge. In the aftermath of the State’s demolishing of the community development gains of the past thirty years and the destruction of   the civic society organisations that evolved in that time, what can we learn from the past and what are the pointers to the future?

Overviews and reflections by Professor Ivor Brown, Loughlin Kealy, Art O’Briain.
Questions and comments from the audience.


6-late
Songs of struggle, craic and tragedy, in the bar.  Like the Irish at the Euro despite all our defeats the city can sing! Ceoltoiri Chluain Tarbh  ,guest musicians and singers,and guest appearance from James Larkin!

Throughout the two days in the Connolly room there will be a   photo exhibition and digital slide show of the city, past and present, by Terry Fagan and Mick.Rafferty.

No registration or booking fee. Donations accepted. Many thanks to Liberty Hall for use of the premises.



Biographies

Peter Sheridan is an acclaimed theatre and film director. He is also a distinguished playwright and has written a number of best-selling memoirs of growing up in Dublin’s docklands.  He was co-founder of the community based City Workshop theater group in the eighties

Maggie Byrne is a well know community theatre director who has worked with prisoners and recovering addicts. She engages in theatre and performance as both a personal aid to healing and community empowerment. She was a key member of the City Workshop group  

Loughlin Kealy is former Professor of Architecture at University College, Dublin. He carried out extensive work in the North Inner City during the 1990s, including a survey of the built environment, a study of the urban morphology of the area prior to regeneration, and an inventory of the Dockland’s archaeological heritage prior to development.

Ivor Browne is former Professor of Psychiatry at University College, Dublin, and former Chief Psychiatrist for the Eastern Health Board. He has long-standing involvement in mental health issues in the city centre and in Ballyfermot. He was one of the founders of the Irish Foundation for Human Development. His book, Music and Madness, published in 2010, was a best-seller.

Art O’Briain is a theatre, TV and film director who was involved with community arts projects from the 1970s on. He has recently been engaged with programmes dealing with inspirational individuals, like photograper Fergus Bourke, artist Joe Boske, and Danish disability campaigner Evaid Grog.

Padraig Yeates is an author and trade union activist. He is author of Lockout, the definitive history of the 1913 Lockout. His most recent publication is A City in Wartime: Dublin 1914-1918. He is Head of the Steering Committee for the commemoration of 1913.

Francis Devine is a labour historian and was a tutor in SIPTU’s Education and Training Department. He is a former editor of Saothar, the journal of the Irish Labour History Society, of which he is a past President. He is author of Organising History: A Centenary of SIPTU, 1909-2009.

Mary Muldowney is a historian. She is author of The Second World War and Irish Women. An Oral History. She is a pioneer of oral history and one of the founders of the Oral History Network of Ireland.

Patricia McCarthy is a sociologist and community activist. She has carried out action-research with Travellers, the homeless and inner city communities. She is currently involved through Partners in Catalyst in voluntary cross-community work in Northern Ireland as well as work with asylum seekers.
  
Mick Rafferty has being active in community politics and development since 1972. In that time he has been director of The NCCCAP and the Inner city Renewal Group, worked with the Combat poverty agency, was a Dublin city councilor and now is with Partners in Catalyst on a voluntary basis.


Festival Committee members;
Catriona Crowe, Seanie Lamb, Terry Fagan, Peter Sheridan, Maggie Byrne, Liz Burns, Ger O’Leary, Patricia McCarthy, Mick Rafferty


Tuesday 10 July 2012

Why Changes To CE Will Only Threaten Childcare Services


A visit to the Clare Family Resource Centre is an inspiring experience  – a dedicated team delivering the highest standards of childcare allied to a state-of-the-art premises on a par with the best in Europe. 
You see at first hand a community model that works – affordable, high quality childcare in a warm, caring
environment. Staff cater to a diverse range of 110 children, including children with special needs and children
who are vulnerable. 
General Manager, Maureen Keane, explained: “Ever since the centre was set up in 1994, we have been
motivated by the need to cater for those who are not in a financial position to avail of the services provided
by the private sector. Community Employment (CE) has been central to the success of this project.”
There are currently 24 staff, all progressing to FETAC levels 5, 6 and 7 qualifications over the course of
one to three years before moving on to work in the childcare sector. Three of this team are seconded to
Clare Haven Services which provides support and accommodation to women and children who have experienced domestic abuse.
Maureen told  Liberty: “All of our Room Leaders started off as CE workers – this  shows you how
important CE is to our operation. Our people are always very sought after by other employers because
they are so well trained.”
Magda Bola Ogunniyi is an example of this successful approach.  Originally from Nigeria, Magda
came to Ireland 14 years ago. She began her career at the centre 12 years ago as a CE participant, worked
her way up to Room Leader and has been the scheme supervisor for four years now. She said: “Working here is fantastic – CE gave me a lifeline to build my career.”
Presumably this is just the type of model of childcare that Minister Joan Burton had in mind when she
called recently for the setting up of “a system of safe, affordable and accessible childcare, similar to what is found in the Scandinavian countries”.  Indeed Maureen Keane spent time in Scandinavia when researching
best practice for the design of their premises in Ennis which was opened just three years ago.
So it’s hard to believe that since last December’s budget there has been increasing concern over future
funding for the centre.  Materials and training grants have been slashed leading to cutbacks of
€25,000 in funding which was used to pay for equipment, toys, heating, electricity and phone costs as well as
core FETAC training. 
This is in addition to the cut to the specific skills training fund – a loss of another €9,000.
Maureen added: “Courses in first aid, lifting and handling, fire and safety and food hygiene are mandatory, and that’s before you move on to the rest of the FETAC course contents. All of this costs money but we
will no longer receive funding for this unless things change.”
As a direct result of these cuts, a sister company to the centre – the
Clare Training Resource Centre – is being forced to close permanently in July, with the loss of a part-time
administrator, and the withdrawal of FETAC recognised training in childcare for the local community.
Maureen claims changes to lone parent payments have piled further pressure on the Centre.
She said: “We depend on new participants joining our CE scheme –
many of whom would have been lone parents, but budget changes mean lone parents will now receive
just €20 a week as an additional payment.  “This is supposed to cover their own costs of transport and childcare.Not surprisingly, the result has been a dramatic reduction in lone parents applying to join the course.”
And there is another cause for concern amid speculation that the Government’s review of Community
Employment will recommend that workers will be restricted to just one
year of CE. “It takes time to learn childcare and continuity of care is very important,” explained Maureen. 
“The quality of care must always come first. Restricting CE to one year might work in other scenarios but it
won’t work in childcare.”
All of these factors are causing great worry to Maureen and her team who are now facing an uncertain future. ““As things stand, I don’t see us being able to run a training scheme next year, but I hope that we can. I am particularly concerned about the impact these cuts could have on our support for the Clare
Haven Services.”
SIPTU Organiser, Diane Jackson, hailed the Clare Family Resource Centre as a template for community childcare of the highest order.  She told Liberty: “The Department of Social Protection should recognise
the damage that is being done by these cutbacks, recognise the huge value of schemes like the Clare
Family Resource Centre and act now to ensure the security of its future funding"