Ballywaltrim Community Centre To Close For A Week After Collapse Of Scheme Provider

Nine Community Employment workers who oversee the centre are without jobs after Cuala Developments shut down

Ballywaltrim Community Centre is closing its doors from today (Monday 5 October) for at least a week, after the company that employs its staff ceased operating.

The centre's volunteer board says it was told on 24 September that Cuala Developments had closed.

Cuala hires and manages the Community Employment (CE) workers placed in the centre and in other local sites, including Wolfe Tone and the Ark Housing charity shop.

"Backbone" of the centre

The centre relies on nine CE workers, who open and close the building, clean it, take bookings and welcome visitors.

Aoife Flynn, chairperson of Ballywaltrim Community Centre, told ECFM the board tried to keep the centre running through the past week and honour its bookings, but that this isn't sustainable without them.

"For health and safety reasons, for the security of the building and really the well-being of anyone who is using it, we are closing on Monday the 5th October for the week," she said.

The board hopes the closure will last only a week and will review the situation after that. The centre is one of the busiest in the area, with bookings running from 7am to 10pm, seven days a week.

Groups affected

Marion Preschool and Connect Youth Services both hold leases on parts of the building and will continue to operate, though they may have to adjust how they deliver services with the main doors locked.

Other groups that use the centre include a bingo night on Tuesdays, which can draw a couple of hundred people, as well as a COPD group, Irish dancers and stop smoking campaigns.

Ms Flynn said the board is already feeling the frustration of the wider community, even before the doors have closed. "We are a volunteer board," she said. "It is a unique situation and we're trying our absolute hardest to get this centre back up and running, but we have to do that safely."

What the centre wants

The board wants its CE staff back. Ms Flynn said that could happen if another CE scheme took on the participants who worked in the centre, or if a number of schemes, centres and community groups came together to set up a new scheme of their own.

She said volunteers alone couldn't cover the centre given how busy it is and how many groups pass through each week. She added that the problem is not unique to Ballywaltrim, as CE staff are what allow many community facilities across the country to offer space at a low cost.

The Department of Social Protection funds CE schemes, and Ms Flynn called on anyone with the capacity to get involved to lobby on the centre's behalf. The board is also contacting organisations directly.

Why Cuala closed remains unclear

The reasons for Cuala's closure haven't been confirmed. "We don't know specifically why they folded," Ms Flynn said. "They've obviously had some challenges, and I'm sure that will come out in the goodness of time, but for now we just know that they're not operational."

She said many people assumed community centres and halls hired their own CE staff, which may have caused confusion about why the centre was closing. In fact, Cuala employed, managed and supported the workers before placing them in centres around the town.