Don O'Leary resigns as director of Cork Life Centre

The director of the Cork Life Centre, Don O’Leary, who had served in the role for over 18 years, has resigned his position.

It is understood that Mr O’Leary resigned over the midterm break following unresolved disagreements with the centre’s board of trustees.

Sharon O’Neill, a tutor at the centre, has been appointed interim director of the Life Centre, and a full-time director is expected to be appointed in the new year.

The Life Centre is a volunteer-led alternative education facility which every year offers one-to-one, relationship-based tuition, up to Leaving Certificate level, to as many as 55 students who - for one reason or another - have not thrived in the mainstream education system.

The Life Centre is located in Edmund Rice House, on Winter’s Hill on Cork city’s northside, a building owned by the Christian Brothers, who act as trustees for the centre and who ratify the appointment of members of the centre’s board of management and directly appoint the board’s chair.

Originally called the Sunday’s Well Life Centre, it was founded in 2000 by Nash’s Boreen native Brother Gary O’Shea, establishing the centre on the Servol (Service Volunteered for All) model of education, and in its early years it tutored five students every year, up to Junior Cert.

Mr O’Leary took over as the centre’s director in 2006, expanding the curriculum and introducing Leaving Certificate subjects for those students who wished to study them, and growing the number of students tutored there every year to 55.

A year ago, after long and often fractious negotiations, and following interventions by the then-taoiseach Micheál Martin, Mr O’Leary announced that a deal had been agreed with the Department of Education whereby nine of the centre’s staff would be given contracts by the department, a development Mr O’Leary said would secure the Life Centre’s future.

Paul Kehoe TD, Minister of State at the Department of Defence, and chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education, has in the past invited several Life Centre students to visit Leinster House and address the committee.

On hearing of Mr O’Leary’s resignation, Mr Kehoe said he wanted to praise Mr O’Leary for his unfailing commitment to the Life Centre.

“I worked very closely with Don over the past few years and he only ever had the best interests of the students to the fore,” he said.

In a statement issued to The Echo this afternoon, the board of management of Cork Life Centre said: “Don O’Leary resigned from the Cork Life Centre at the end of October after almost two decades of dedicated service to children in the alternative education setting. We are grateful for his loyal service and committed to carrying forward the work he started.

“While filling his shoes is going to be a challenge, the mission of the Cork Life Centre continues. Sharon O’Neill has stepped in as director, leading an interim management team, until the new board of management recruits a permanent director and deputy director.

“This recruitment process will take place in early 2024. In the meantime, the red doors are still open,” the statement concluded.

When contacted, Don O’Leary said he could not comment on the matter.