Barnardos faces funding shortfall

BARNARDOS admitted that it is facing a funding shortfall which could jeopardise some of its projects around the country.

The children’s charity said it expected a 20% shortfall in funding this year with another budget deficit next year.

The organisation deals with 5,500 children and runs 42 projects around the country, but faces a funding crisis which it attributed to the effects of the recession.

The charity has a funding shortfall of €1,180,000 for this year and is well short of the €5.9 million it needs to keep services going.

Barnardos yesterday launched a public appeal for fresh funding, with the organisation’s chief executive Fergus Finlay stressing the importance of keeping projects operational.

“We do not want to stop providing that help for even one of those children and for that we need the public’s support,” he said.

“We truly appreciate all the support people have given us to date and we understand the financial difficulties that many families and companies are facing. We are therefore appealing to those who can, to please give.”

Barnardos project leader in south Cork Carmel O’Donovan said any project closures would have a devastating effect on children and their families.

“We are the only family support project in the south Cork area that works with the family as a whole,” she said.

“They have nowhere else to go in a crisis.

“Many of these families are now dealing with extra financial pressure on top of the difficult issues they may already have been facing. This could send them lurching from one crisis to another.

“It is crucial that our services are there to provide them with the support to build skills that will help them through these difficulties, now and into the future.”

Director of marketing and fundraising Ruth Guy said if the budget deficit continued into next year it would then have to look at curtailing or cutting projects as “a worst case scenario”.

A 3% reduction in HSE funding has already been agreed, meaning a drop in the 67% of statutory funding already provided to Barnardos. However, Ms Guy said it did not know if a further cut could be expected in the December budget, but she said Barnardos was hopeful its funding would not be reduced further.

A pay freeze is already in place for the charity’s 360 full-time staff. As for the possible closure of projects, she said: “It is going to be largely dependent on the funding that we are getting in.”

* www.barnardos.ie