Family Resource Centres in Mayo call to be at heart of Budget 2025

Family Resource Centres (FRC) in Mayo have called on the Government to put community services at the heart of Budget 2025.

Representatives from Tacu Ballinrobe Family Resource Centre in Mayo met with members of the Oireachtas at a briefing event in Buswells Hotel, Dublin, to urge them to adequately fund community services in Mayo in this year’s Budget.

The centres require adequate funding so that they can provide the level of support services that are desperately needed in local communities.

The event was run by the FRC National Forum (FRCNF), the national representative body for FRCs, to officially launch its Budget 2025 submission.

The FRC programme is the largest community-based family support programme in Ireland. Through a network of 121 FRCs, it supports families in communities experiencing poverty and disadvantage.

Increase in core funding

The primary call on Government, as part of the submission, is for an increase in core funding for all 121 FRCs, to €240,000.

Earlier this year, Minister Roderic O’Gorman raised the minimum level of core funding to €160,000 per FRC. However, this figure was identified six years ago as the basic level of funding for new FRCs. 

For Budget 2025, the FRCNF has identified the required level of funding per FRC as €240,000, for them to be able to adequately provide the services required of them.

Commenting on their pre-Budget submission, Fergal Landy, CEO of the FRCNF, called Budget 2025 a ‘key opportunity’ for Government to maximise the potential of the FRC National Programme. 

“The current level of funding of €160,000 per FRC is intended to cover the salary of three full-time staff members, operational costs and the running of services in the centre. This is just not realistic nor sustainable. 

“The shortfall in core funding is leading to a recruitment and retention crisis of suitable, qualified staff and difficulties in maintaining appropriate premises to deliver the high quality supports our FRCs have become known for,” added Mr Landy.

Additional Key Asks

In addition to the increase in core funding, the FRCNF is also calling for no new centres to be introduced until existing FRCs are adequately funded. They also wish for involvement in the decision-making process, when the programme is expanded, to ensure alignment to the existing FRC programme approach.  

Additionally, they want to ensure consistent, long-term funding for counselling and therapeutic support in FRCs nationwide as well as the development and introduction of a dedicated capital funding stream.

 “Last year, over 70,000 therapeutic support sessions were provided to adults and children in FRCs across Ireland. As a result of these services being made available, 71 percent of FRCs reported a decrease in their waiting lists for services like play therapy, one-to-one psychotherapy, and parenting workshops,” continued Mr Landy.

The CEO said the impact of the funding made available for these showed the ‘potential of what could be achieved’ if provided long term. 

“In every corner of the country, the FRC National Programme plays a vital role in providing services for its community. However, FRCs have long experienced a reduced level of core funding, in comparison to similar organisations, and we are now urging the Government to put communities at the heart of Budget 2025 and invest where it is needed most,” he concluded.

Further information about the FRCNF is available here on their website.