Resident voluntary groups face eviction

IT was incredible that a charity centre for 45 voluntary groups, opened a month before the elections by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, was now declaring that it had to close, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs said yesterday.

The Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups in Dublin says its resident groups are facing eviction next month because the Department is refusing to pay €150,000 a year to keep it open.

The centre, the first, largest and busiest share facility for charities in Ireland is home to vitally important organisations, including groups supporting people with severe neurological conditions and children’s health projects.

As well as having 45 resident organisations, a further 350 use its facilities and services.

Both the Departments of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Department of Health and Children are inviting representatives from the centre to discussions about its operating costs. The Department of Health has already agreed to provide €150,000 in core funding every year, but the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs said it wants to be satisfied optimum use was being made of the substantial funds already provided by the State.

A spokesperson for the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs insisted yesterday there was no question of the centre closing or the resident groups being made homeless.

“Appropriate measures will be taken to ensure this. These measures may be from within or from without existing structures,” she insisted, but did not elaborate further.

The centre’s chief executive, Kate O’Sullivan, welcomed the invitation to talks, but was disappointed that it had been issued through a third party.

“I am delighted that both departments are going to meet us and we are only too happy to produce all the information that they want and that the money is being spent properly,” she said.

Ms O’Sullivan believed the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs was trying to create a division between resident groups and the centre’s board.

The department pointed out the centre was based in rent and rates free State-owned buildings, but, said Ms O’Sullivan, this gave the wrong impression.

One of the two listed buildings, Coleraine House, was given to the centre by Dublin City Council in the late 1990s on condition that it raised €760,000 to restore the building that was a complete ruin.

The centre also raised over €600,000 of the €1.3 million over the past three years to restore the other building, Carmichael House, given to the centre by the Northern Area Health board.