FORUM fights back from brink

FORUM Connemara is fighting back to save itself from extinction.

A threat hangs over the local development company due to changes to the way social inclusion programmes are to be delivered in Galway.

FORUM says the restructuring of how SICAP (Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme) is administered is putting jobs at risk in the company and organisations it currently serves right across Connemara.

Some 700 people turned up at a protest meeting in Maam Cross a fortnight ago, demanding FORUM would be saved.

And the resistance continued this week as members and supporters of FORUM Connemara turned out in force at the Connemara Coast Hotel in Furbo to picket the Galway County Council meeting.

A crowd of about 70 picketed the meeting on Monday, having travelled by bus from Clifden to Furbo.

“We made our point. We are very happy with how it went,” said Karen Mannion, Rural Development Officer with FORUM.

There was more good news on Monday when FORUM was granted leave for a judicial review in the high “to question the decision of County Galway LCDC to allocate one lot for County Galway for the delivery of SICAP”. That hearing is expected in the coming weeks.

Further protests by FORUM Connemara of County Council meetings, as well as Local Development Company (LDCs) meetings, are also planned in the coming weeks and months.

FORUM Chairman, Terry Keenan, said the protest would continue until the ‘powers that be’ take heed of the anger in Connemara and reverse the decision.

As of next Tuesday, March 31, FORUM’s 25-years association with delivering social inclusion programmes in Connemara will cease, and the SICAP (Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme) will be administered in Connemara by Galway Rural Development (GRD).

GRD, based in Athenry, used to deliver for east of County Galway but will from the end of this month take over the delivery of SICAP in Connemara as well.

FORUM Connemara is resisting the change.  In a letter of protest presented to the County Council meeting on Monday, FORUM Connemara reiterated that SICAP in Galway should be delivered in two ‘Lots’ – one by FORUM and one by GRD.

“As you are no doubt aware the LCDC (Local Community Development Committees) that was ‘constructed’ in County Galway took an injudicious decision to confine the entire county to one Lot for the future delivery of SICAP. This decision will now have the most negative implications for our company, its staff and, most important of all, the people of Connemara,” said Mr Keenan in the letter addressed to Cathaoirleach Mary Hoade.

Mr Keenan added: “It might well be that those of you who do not live in Connemara possibly do not appreciate the level of anger that is currently being expressed at that flawed decision of the LCDC.

“This anger is universal throughout the region and will not go away. It is quite clear that the circumstances surrounding that flawed decision should now be investigated, and the utter nonsense be put under scrutiny.

“The actions of other Councils, which have seen the wisdom and necessity of providing more than one Lot to best serve the needs of their constituents, are in marked contrast to the model now to be adopted throughout Galway and, again, it is extremely difficult to understand how the second largest county in Ireland can stand over this decision.

“Cork County, the largest, has opted for seven Lots distributed throughout the County and including one for Cork city. On behalf of Connemara I now call upon you to do everything in your power to have the decision of the LCDC immediately rescinded. This call will be repeated until justice is served.”