Youth services may move in together to save funds

Date Published: 28-Sep-2010

By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

Two youth services in the city centre are looking at options of co-locating at the one centre to save money and ensure their survival for the future.

The two centres, which are practically neighbours in the city and which both provide very different services for young people, lease premises at very high rents and are anxious to look at ways of saving money.

Since Jigsaw, a free support service for young people with mental health issues, opened its doors in Mary Street a year ago, annual rent (about €86,000) has been paid for by Headstrong, the national advocacy organisation which set up Jigsaw.

They also get a grant from the HSE for staffing and there are eight in the Galway Jigsaw, headed up by manager, John Fitzmaurice.

Around the corner in Francis Street, the Galway Youth Cafe, which provides a social outlet for young people aged between 15 and the early twenties, is funded by the HSE.

Their annual rent – believed to be about €126,000 – is paid by the HSE. That lease is up next April, while the one for Jigsaw is up at the end of the this year.Mr Fitzmaurice, who worked at GAF before taking up his position at Jigsaw, said it made perfect sense for the two services to co-locate at the one premises and to share some staff for economic reasons.

“We initiated these discussions with the HSE as we are conscious that we have to do something if we are to sustain services.

“We are located so close and we both deal with young people, and though we offer two very different services, it would make more sense for those services to be available under the one roof. But we would still operate separately.

“You could say it’s a survival plan so that the future of both services is sustainable. We have spoken to staff and we even have a transition plan in place. We need to demonstrate to the HSE that we can save funds and the bigger picture is for us to share the same premises.”

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel