Charities Act 2009 – Further aspects of Act to be commenced - Minister Carey takes steps to protect charity trustees
Pat Carey T.D., Minister of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, who has responsibility for the regulation of charities, is pleased to announce that he will be commencing two further sections of the Charities Act 2009.
Minister Carey said -
“I am very conscious of the great good work carried out by many people who are charity trustees. Many dedicated people give of their time and energy in this way, and they are pivotal to the success of Ireland’s charities sector. However, there have been concerns over the current legal position in Ireland that charity trustees may in certain circumstances be personally liable for losses accruing to charities through their actions. This may serve to discourage persons from acting as charity trustees, so I am anxious to allay any such fears.”
Seven fold increase in the number of young adults attending mental health support groups
Calls on Government to spend the promised 27 million Euro on core mental health services not spent in 2008.
Irish charity Grow today announced that it has seen a seven-fold increase in young adults attending its mental health support groups in 2009.
Since the start of this year Grow has increased the number of groups dedicated to young adults from just one to six, with new groups opening in Galway, Tullamore, Limerick, Cork and Waterford and later this month a further two will open in Portarlington and Letterkenny.
GROW in Ireland today (Monday March 9th) announced a one day conference themed “Promoting Positive Mental Health in Young People” on the 24th June, 2009 at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore.
Announcing the conference Michele Kerrigan, GROW in Ireland’s Chief Executive said
“Ireland is suffering a sharp increase in suicides, particularly among young men. With approximately 500 lives lost to suicide each year Ireland is now the fifth highest in Europe with one in four suicides occurring amongst those aged between 15 and 24.
Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent
The largest mental health support organisation in the State has said it is is being forced to scale back services for people with mental health problems due to a lack of State funding.
Grow, a national network of more than 145 groups that help people who have suffered, or are suffering, from mental health problems, said it is being forced to reduce staffing and support services in some areas, despite unprecedented demand for help.
In the north-east area alone, it said it is shutting its regional office, while support services in the Cavan-Monaghan region are under threat.
In other parts of the Republic, it said it needed to double staffing levels to provide support to those most in need.
Following the release of the budget 2008 by the Minister of Finance, the Irish Mental Health Coalition has called for clarification by Government of its funding for the development of mental health services in Ireland.
In 2006 the Government endorsed the new mental health policy 'A Vision for Change' and committed to responding to the resource allocation requirements of that policy. 'A Vision for Change' required a minimum of an additional 25 million euro in current expenditure for a six-year period to allow full implementation of the objectives outlined in the policy. This commitment was realised in 2006 and 2007, but to date there is no clear evidence that this money was actually spent on mental health services and responses by the HSE to parliamentary questions seeking specific information on this point have failed to answer the question. To make matters worse, it now seems that there is no additional funding in 2008 allocated for the implementation of 'A Vision for Change'.
Perhaps the best way I can illustrate how GROW works is to start by telling you a little about how I became involved.
I was, perhaps, an archetype of the many young men we hear about today. I became caught up in a spiral of alienation, alcohol, isolation and despair. I was tormented by massive levels of anxiety, bordering on terror, at times I was hearing voices and misinterpreting sounds. I could see absolutely no hope for the future. Eventually I decided to look for help. I was given a label of pathological shyness and Librium. My first experience of help wasn’t a happy one although the psychiatrist in question was very warm and friendly. I was unfortunately asked if I minded if students sat in on the interview. I did.
The turning point for me was meeting my wife Fran. She was a very brilliant and beautiful young woman. She was however very much at risk, from a highly dysfunctional family and from many extremely distressing personal experiences.