Centralising of Youth Work grants a retrograde step

By JACQUELINE HOGGE THE decision to centralise the administration and processing of Youth Work grants has been criticised by members of Co Galway VEC who have condemned it as a retrograde step. CEO Joe McDonagh told the December meeting that a strongly worded letter has been sent to Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, criticising the decision to remove local personnel in the decision-making process. 'We are in a facilitating and co-ordinating role and the decision to centralise the administration and processing of these grants means an element of control is being lost that in turn demeans the role of our youth officer and indeed the Education Training Board,' he said.[private] Cllr Liam Carroll said he wasn't one bit happy with the situation, as a recent celebration honouring the work done by youth groups throughout the county showed how crucial local involvement was in the success of such projects. 'I was at a function in the Clayton Hotel in Galway recently where over 40 youth groups were honoured and at that celebration our youth officer, Louise Ryan was known to at least one member of each group and seemed to have a wonderful working relationship with these people. 'I would be fearful that in taking away the local involvement, the close relationship that has been built up between the VEC and these groups will be dissipated and while we don't want to control things, we need to be a part of the process as people in Dublin don't know Oranmore from Cregmore. I believe this to be a retrograde step.' Mr McDonagh also informed the board that the most recent attempt to secure funding through the national music education programme Music Generation had failed. However, Galway Music Education Partnership, which is jointly led by Co Galway VEC and City of Galway VEC and includes a number of groups throughout the county, intends to go ahead with some of the programmes it has developed in the new year. 'We are obviously very disappointed not to have been successful in what was the third round of funding for Music Generation,' said Mr McDonagh. 'However we intend to keep the group together and to commence some of the programmes we have proposed over the coming months. 'There may be an option of another attempt at applying for funding in 2014 but regardless of that option we want to develop a partnership that can deliver a legacy of musical education throughout the county.' [/private]