New Family Resource Centre confirmed for Mayo after years of local campaigning
A brand-new Family Resource Centre (FRC) has been confirmed for the Erris region, marking a major boost for families and community services in North Mayo.
The announcement will see the already established Erris Family and Community Support Centre become a fully-fledged FRC.
The new centre, which will be known as the Erris Family & Resource Centre CLG, will be based at the Irish Wheelchair Association facility in Logmore, Belmullet.
Today’s announcement follows years of dedicated local campaigning to secure a permanent and fully resourced FRC for the region.
Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh welcomed the news and explained the fight for a full FRC in Erris stretches back more than a decade, to her time as project co‑ordinator at the Iorras Le Chéile Community Development Project.
“There is a huge need for this, and that need was confirmed beyond doubt,” she said, commending the staff and board of management at the centre for their work in securing the approval.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said the centre was “badly needed” and would help address a long-standing service gap in the Erris region, adding that she would have liked to see it established much earlier.
She linked the demand for services to the closure of the Community Development Project in Erris following the 2008 financial crash, describing that decision as a mistake with consequences still being felt today.
I hope that never again will community and voluntary projects be cut in the way they were cut in the years of austerity
She explained that austerity measures implemented after the crash had a huge impact on the community and voluntary sector, leading to the closure of projects across Ireland and placing additional strain on remaining community development and support services.
“I believe this was a huge mistake right across the country, and we are now paying the price for removing those community projects,” she said.
She recalled the simultaneous dissolution of the Combat Poverty Agency and pointed to the wider impact of losing locally based projects.
“The information coming through from these projects is laying bare the challenges being faced within these communities, whether they be in rural or urban areas,
“There is a particular disadvantage in areas like Erris where you have so far to travel - we are talking about a 100-mile round trip to travel to Castlebar on bad roads to access services,
“Now, these services will be provided by the Erris FRC on a continuous basis,” she said.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said the establishment of the Erris FRC would also enable more strategic planning at the community level to address specific issues.
“These issues can include family poverty, mental health, domestic violence and many other issues that are often hidden in a community,” she explained, “Having a good FRC in an area can make all the difference to ensure that people are not left behind.”
Directing funding to FRCs “makes economic sense as well as social sense,” Deputy Conway-Walsh stated.
“If you don’t address these issues and have the proper interventions, economically it can cost multiple of that [initial investment] in the medium and in the longer term.
“I hope that never again will community and voluntary projects be cut in the way they were cut in the years of austerity,” she said and described cutting funding to these services as “foolish and reckless”.
Reflecting on austerity-era cuts, Deputy Conway-Walsh said the long-term consequences are being felt by young people, not just in Erris but across the country.
“The kids who were benefiting from community projects in different areas in 2008, 2009 and 2010 are now going into their late teens and early 20s without having the interventions that those projects could have made,” she said.
She explained that those young people are now facing significant challenges in areas such as employment, education and training.
It is not a cost to the exchequer, it is an investment that is vital to the health and well-being of these communities
As part of Budget 2026, funding for Family Resource Centres increased by €20,000 to €180,000, with the Erris FRC set to receive that level of core funding for a year of operation.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said further investment in core funding is still required, citing rising operational costs and additional responsibilities, including the Auto-Enrollment Scheme.
“That extra funding must be worked in as part of the core funding for these projects,” she said, “Core funding is important because electricity bills, energy bills, bills across the board have gone up on these projects - we need to ensure that they are fully funded.”
“It is not a cost to the exchequer, it is an investment that is vital to the health and well-being of these communities," she added.
As part of today's announcement, ten new FRCs were announced across Ireland, bringing the total to 136.
Confirming the news, Minister Dara Calleary said he was delighted to see Erris included in the latest round of allocations.
“This is a milestone day for the people of Erris and surrounding areas who rely so heavily on the existing services provided in the Erris Family and Community Support Centre,” he said.
“I have consistently made the case to Minister Foley, and previous Ministers, about the reach and depth of the work in Erris and the need for an upgrade to full Family Resource Centre status,” said the Mayo representative.
“FRCs do incredible work every single day. They are at the heart of communities and represent investment in children, families, and communities across Ireland,” he added.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.