Cork Life Centre faces ‘most precarious time’, says Don O'Leary

CORK Life Centre has never been in greater danger, the director of the northside education facility has said.

Don O’Leary told The Echo he believes the centre, which every year gives one-to-one tuition to 55 young people, is in real jeopardy of closing.

“We lost eight full-time teachers this year, and we will lose more as the year goes on,” said Mr O’Leary.

“We are getting close to the point where we won’t have teachers to teach our students, and that is down to the Department of Education not paying our teachers a fair wage.”

Fully qualified teachers in the Life Centre are paid by the department what are known as co-operation hours, effectively part-time work, without pension rights or access to incremental pay increases, and are forced to sign on for social protection payments out of term.

“Teachers need to think about their own futures, and without a proper salary structure, we can’t expect them to pass up on better opportunities in mainstream education.”

Mr O’Leary said the loss of so many established teachers has had a devastating effect on morale in the Life Centre, and he is concerned about the centre’s ability to take in new students for next year.

“We have always had financial worries, but I believe this is the most precarious time the centre has ever faced,” he said.

This week, Education Minister Norma Foley told the Oireachtas joint committee on education that her department had significantly increased funding to the Life Centre in recent years, providing 6,000 co-operation hours and €177,500 per year.

Ms Foley said she is committed to implementing the recommendations of the Review of Out-of-School Education Provision report.

Mr O’Leary has criticised the report’s recommendations, questioning the accuracy of the statistics used to inform its conclusions and alleging that it focuses solely on short-term interventions rather than on the relationship-based approach of the Life Centre.

He has warned that implementation of the report will spell the end of Cork Life Centre.

Oireachtas education committee chairman Paul Kehoe told The Echo he is very concerned for the Life Centre’s future. The Fine Gael TD for Wexford said he believes the Life Centre offers a model of alternative education which should be adopted all over the country.

“I have a huge interest in Cork Life Centre, even though it’s not in my constituency and you could say I have nothing whatsoever to gain from it, but my committee visited it last year and I was hugely impressed by the work they do,” said Mr Kehoe. 

“I believe Cork Life Centre must be protected, and my committee is committed to helping Don and his staff and his students in any way we can.”