Victim Support - Organisation must get proper funds

It is an ill-considered move to leave Victim Support in the financial limbo the organisation will find itself in when State funding ceases at the end of this month.

The new board has put the internal problems that beset Victim Support last year behind it, but is faced with an uncertain future because of a policy introduced by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

Hitherto, the body was allocated just over e1 million annually by the Department of Justice, which was hardly an extravagant sum given the important support it provided for victims of crime.

Its new board will, instead, have to make a fresh application to the nascent Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime, which was announced by the minister this week.

Apart from the not unimportant aspect that 18 jobs will be lost in Victim Support at the end of the month, there is the real danger that the vital network built up, and the experience accrued, could be lost to the organisation.

The nature of the problems that it deals with on a daily basis is more than sufficient to occupy the concern of those in the organisation without the added burden of having to prepare a new submission for funding.

To highlight just one crucial aspect of their remit, it is unacceptable that the National Missing Persons helpline should be threatened by the minister’s action.

It would appear ludicrous that while Victim Support was having discussions with high-ranking gardaí in relation to better utilisation of the PULSE system, the minister was in the process of destabilising them.

There is no one better positioned than the Minister for Justice to realise the impact that crime is having on society and that victims very often feel inadequate in dealing with it, and coming to terms with its affects.

It is, therefore, perplexing to understand the reasoning, or lack of it, in endangering Victim Support by removing financial support from it. It stands to reason that without funding, it simply cannot operate if it cannot pay its way.

While the minister may talk about extra gardaí, which have so far failed to materialise, it ill-behoves him to tinker with Victim Support, something that victims know is there to help them.

Putting an established structure like it in jeopardy is short-sighted and will achieve nothing other than negative reactions.

In recent years, the internal organisation undoubtedly had its problems and public funding had to be monitored to ensure it was being spent for the purposes it was intended.

However, it would be far better to consolidate Victim Support by concentrating on the positive aspects of its work, rather than by subjecting it to restrictive practices, such as having to financially justify its existence.

At least there is an ambition by those concerned in the organisation to continue its work, but it is vital that it receives adequate funding.