<\/p>\n
<\/strong>16 August 2012<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Dublin South West TD Se\u00e1n Crowe has said the decision by the children’s Charity Barnardos to close its offices and services in the\u00a0State for a week highlights the\u00a0difficult financial pressures being experienced by Advocacy Groups and Charitable Organisations.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI understand the decision taken by Barnardos to close its offices for a week was made in late 2011 as a drastic cost saving measure to protect their services to children and families. This drastic measure was in response to increased financial pressure following cuts to Barnardos statutory income and a decline in voluntary contributions. While all of Barnardos services are closed this week, the Charity’s seven shops will remain open.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe suspension of Barnardos services comes at a time when there are increasing demands being placed on all groups dealing with poverty and disadvantage. It reflects the growing hardship being experienced by families who are struggling to cope in the face of rising unemployment, falling wages, cuts to benefits and increases in the cost of living.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOrganisations like Barnardos are in the frontline when dealing with these issues and they are often the last resource available to people who are experiencing\u00a0the worst effects\u00a0of the recession.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is a tribute to the commitment of their\u00a0workers\u00a0and highly\u00a0commendable that Barnardos\u2019 staff voluntarily suspended their salary costs for a week to ensure services and lobbying could continue into the new term.\u00a0This important measure\u00a0is more evidence of their staffs commitment and dedication to the important work\u00a0they are carrying out daily.<\/span><\/p>\n “Clearly however, the funding shortages being experienced by Barnardos are not sustainable and are\u00a0compromising the important work they\u00a0carry out\u00a0with children and families and it is an issue that this\u00a0Government must urgently address.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith the rise in those at risk or already living in abject\u00a0poverty and in the face of falling donations, it is essential that Barnardos and other Charity Organisations receive the necessary support that allows them to fulfill their important role in helping and supporting\u00a0people who are most in need.\u201dENDS<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 16 August 2012 Dublin South West TD Se\u00e1n Crowe has said the decision by the children’s Charity Barnardos to close its offices and services in the\u00a0State for a week highlights the\u00a0difficult financial pressures being experienced by Advocacy Groups and Charitable Organisations. Deputy Crowe said: \u201cI understand the decision taken by Barnardos to close its offices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Deputy Crowe said: <\/span><\/h1>\n