Cork's Life Centre forced to turn away referrals

A centre for early school-leavers which faces possible closure unless it secures extra funding has revealed it is turning away a growing number of referrals.

The Life Centre in Cork City offers educational training to 40 people between the ages of 12 and 18 — and its director has said that on one day last month it received eight referrals.

Don O’Leary, a former Sinn Féin councillor, said: “We are figuring it out that since October and before that we are having one or two referrals a day and we can’t take any of them. I would love to take them but we haven’t got the space. We are at saturation point.”

The Cork Life Centre, in the Sunday’s Well area of the city, is the largest of four centres, with two in Dublin and one in Belfast.

Its trustees are the Christian Brothers, which have provided much of the funding for its operations since it opened in 2000.

However, Mr O’Leary said the Brothers are no longer in a position to continue providing money, meaning the work at the Life Centre is increasingly dependent on support from the State, which in recent years has been cut and is not guaranteed into the future.

As many as half of the 40 young people currently receiving educational support at the centre are known to care services and some are in care.

Referrals to the Life Centre are made from various sources, including parents and the National Education Welfare Board.

There are 25 full-time students at the Life Centre at present, and last year, nine students sat the Leaving Certificate. This year, 15 students are taking the Junior Certificate and another three are sitting the Leaving Certificate.

But worries over future funding have cast doubt over whether the centre can continue to operate. It currently has four teaching staff but almost 70 volunteers, who cater one-to-one for students who attend in different shifts, from 8.30am to 7pm.

However, no government department has stepped in to assure management at the centre that funding will be continued, with Mr O’Leary claiming the State could pay for the three centres for a total of €300,000, which could be split between the Department of Education and other departments such as Justice.

“We are always going to have a large amount of volunteers,” he said, but added that staff needed to be paid.

“If you don’t know who’s going to pay for the heating, the lighting, the meals, everything else that goes with the centre, the copybooks, the tables, the chairs, then yes, there is a likelihood that we could lose three very vibrant centres that care for young people’s education.”

Asked directly about the funding provision for the Life Centres, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said: “I would just draw your attention to the fact that the Christian Brothers are severely in arrears in the amount of monies they owe the State with regards to the redress institutions.

“The Christian Brothers have the resources to address this issue.”