This Document contains embedded videos and is designed to be read on a computer, preferably with Adobe Reader. Printing it on paper and reading it loses a relevant dimension! FAO: Rita McNulty Assistant Secretary (Community) Department of the Environment July 26, 2011 Our REF:- rm1260711 Dear Rita, I am writing to you on behalf of Parental Equality (a voluntary support group) to draw your attention to and seek your leadership intervention in a "stuckness" which has arisen in dealing with officials within your Department. The difficulties issue from a Parental Equality Funding application, under the aegis of "Funding scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector" lodged on January 24, 2011 by e-mail. Sincerely Liam Ó Gógáin
This situation to date:Following the receipt of a letter from your Department dated 7 June 2011 stating that the application had been unsuccessful and stating that this decision could be appealed within 28 days (from June 7) and in which no details, in terms of feedback assessment, total marks or information about the appeals process itself, was provided, Parental Equality set about reviewing its own application in order to decide whether to lodge an appeal or not . As the first and most obvious step, feedback on the evaluation of the application was requested in phone conversations with Department official Ann Walsh. The quality and the usefulness of the feedback when finally received by Parental Equality has proven to be of negligible value. Informed by Parental Equality's previous experiences going back a number of years of dealings with statutory bodies, where either the denial or the culturally attuned "no recollection" response has been used by officials to prevent certain facts from being agreed, and mindful of the fundamental "digital-space" nature of the original application, Parental Equality engaged in a flurry of digital correspondence with both Ann Walsh (whose position was incorrectly interpreted by Parental Equality as being a principal officer, albeit that Ann Walsh in either her correspondence or her description on the environ.ie website at no stage made any attempt to clarify her organisational status) and with Pat Boyle APO.
The fundamental purpose of this correspondence was for Parental Equality to procure full and comprehensive feedback analysis, which Parental Equality argue should have been readily made available, as a "best-practice" standard in any process which involves the disbursement of public funds, in order that Parental Equality could firstly review and reflect on the rationale, competency and/or fairness of the evaluation and then if it decided to appeal the negative decision on the merits of its application and the shortcomings of the evaluation, it would be in a position, as a result of having assessed the full information, to make as professional an appeal as possible for a voluntary group, given its extremely limited resources and the distraction that is caused to its coalface work with traumatised clients, by the time-consuming efforts in both making an initial application and in prosecuting a competent appeal. The experience of Parental Equality of having failed to elicit reasonable, professional and direct answers to specific direct questions and the prevarication and obfuscation by both previously named officials has exceeded "the frustration tolerance threshold" of active volunteers who give of their time to help families in transition, only to be disabused by an apparently unsanctionable very "uncivil disservice".
Decision to refer the matter to you:Over the period of last weekend I was approached by Joe Egan the new chairman of Parental Equality (who has just recently been elected as the first chairman for the Platform for European Fathers... “The founding of the Platform for European Fathers (PEF) was welcomed at the „European fathers‟ congress‟ in the European Parliament that was organised by the Greens/EFA on June 28, 2011 in support of paternity leave.”). Joe is representative of a younger, energised generation of fathers with young children, who are essentially digital natives and are intent on building positive paternal models and support channels informed by the legacy of the generation of voluntary activists who have gone before them. He was bemused, shocked and frustrated at what appears to be a culturally driven intent by civil servants to prevent voluntary groups (and by extension all citizens) from not only getting access to information but also by being proactively denied direct answers to direct questions by highly paid civil servants, against the backdrop of the "transformation of the public service, post the Croke Park agreement ". In his naiveté (and thankfully lack of cynicism) Joe had entered into this grant application process believing that a "high quality competent and professional evaluation process" would examine and determine applications based on their merits alone and that in the event of an appeal, the cooperation of public service officials in providing explanatory feedback would be readily available.
As a result of my historical and long experience as chairman of Parental Equality, and of my availability due to my being now retired from the public service and also being removed from the coal-face of dealing with a continuous stream of traumatised, disadvantaged and isolated separated fathers, Joe requested that I assist Parental Equality in trying to unblock this "stuckness" with officialdom. At this point of my life, I am personally in the process of trying to recalibrate my sense of humanity, after almost 20 years of being bathed in a cynical cesspool of trying to deal with the Discriminatory Department of Social and Family Affairs and other statutory agencies, with little expectation of their redemption as long as no one at a significant leadership level took the necessary decisive steps to investigate properly, complaints of misconduct, to implement tangible sanctions and so discourage such misconduct and most importantly to lead, through personal example, their staff to perform their duties as civil servants in a noble, accountable, transparent and professional manner.
Guided by synchronicity, I was heading towards Glenties last weekend to attend my first MacGill school. In scanning through the report of the 2010 MacGill school I noted some hard-hitting comments by Dr Eddie Molloy a management consultant in relation to public service transformation. Some quotations from his presentation resonated with this current ongoing experience of Parental Equality:"the failure of institutions to act, he says, when presented with indisputable facts and sensible remedies is because they suffer from a condition felicitously named by a former civil servant as “implementation deficit disorder”. Implementation deficit disorder is, according to Dr Molloy, a deeply embedded impulse or reflex within the culture of established institutions. This disorder leads to:
Rationalisation, denial, obfuscation, resulting in the dismissal of compelling evidence of failure and the need to change.
Disowning any responsibility for what went wrong, e.g., Lehmann's caused our banking problems.
Protecting the interests of the most powerful stakeholders.
Suggesting that we put the past behind us and move on.
Proposing that "we are the best people to sort it out".
Molloy states "however, we are stuck. The old "wineskins" who have received the reports that cite, directly or indirectly, their role in creating the crisis have so far shown themselves to be culturally incapable of reform."
I accepted the chairman of Parental Equality's request for me to progress this matter on behalf of Parental Equality based on the following three objectives:1. To assist Parental Equality to procure all relevant feedback assessment information from the evaluation process, including the scoring matrix details as identified by Parental Equality. This would include prosecuting an F.O.I. application seeking this information and bringing it all the way through the ombudsman and courts process if necessary. I will also seek to have recorded and measured the sums of public monies that are wastefully expended on achieving this ojective. 2. That my fundamental objective in expending my energy on this process, is to perform an act of public service, by seeking to help create a benchmark of best practice with regards to defining in plain English what exactly applicants for grants for public monies are entitled to in terms of information about the evaluations, feedback assessments, appeals processes, establishment of criteria, competencies and details of the evaluation team members and anyone involved in the appeals process. The outcome of establishing this "best-practice" standard will be leveraged through prominent website publication on all departments' websites and made available in conjunction with all application forms in future. Furthermore, when this "best-practice" standard is established and approved a formal process would be undertaken within the public service to ensure that all public servants are culturally acclimatised to this clearly defined standard. 3. To ensure a full investigation into the behaviours of the officials in this situation and to challenge and expose the cultural conditioning which seems to turn presumably decent, competent entrants into the public service, into essentially wasters of public monies, impediments to progress who damage,frustrate and negate the very worthwhile work of volunteers throughout the country. In conjunction with the above three objectives my overarching consideration was that I would record this process for online publication and distribution as a case study to highlight this weakness and unprofessionalism in the Irish public service, in the hope that it might underpin and feed the need for transformational change to be meaningful.
Before reviewing the correspondence between Parental Equality and the Department, I reflected on the previous and similar process I had been involved in around the year 2004 during the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family, where as then chairman of Parental Equality, I had been involved in making an application for funding, which was disabused and effectively buried, either as an active commission or omission by Department officials or by an even larger incompetency by their computer systems. A
senior officer Heber McMahon, who I recently noticed in a televised Oireachtas accounts committee, can be called upon to give his version of his departmentâ€&#x;s behaviour in this matter and explain how monies were made available on an ex-gratia basis with the proviso that Parental Equality would refrain from progressing their investigation further. Whilst the reality for Parental Equality at the time was one of very limited resources, high ongoing demand at the coalface, particularly from separated fathers who were experiencing major disadvantage, isolation and trauma and therefore Parental Equality had to make the hard choice to take the meagre settlement and not pursue departmental failings to their logical conclusion, I fully accept that our failure to push then to conclusion, for a "best-practice" standard of professional behaviour by the public servants involved, simply allowed such a culture to be reinforced and to propagate, so that it should not surprise us to be revisited by its cancerous effect some seven years later.
Over the last few days I have gathered from Parental Equality and collated this series of digital correspondence between them and Department officials including a copy of the original application and written correspondence from the Department officials. I am aware that there may be other correspondence which due to their limited resources Parental Equality may not have included and I emphasise my invitation to your Department to append such material to the information I have collated for completeness.
I have organised the information essentially in three sections:1. The first section covers the uncontentious e-mail correspondence from January 24, 2011 through June 9, 2011 (inclusive). 2. The second section covers correspondence by e-mail from July 1 to July 18 (inclusive) with Pat Boyle from the Department. These are numbered 1 to 25 3. The third section covers correspondence by e-mail from July 5 to July 18 (inclusive) with or about Ann Walsh from the Department. These are listed A to I. The e-mails are hyperlinked in order to assist smoother navigation and any suggestions which would improve this navigation experience is welcomed.
As an initial comment I wish to note the dismal failure in departmental written correspondence to provide either a website address or e-mail addresses for the relevant officials. It seems incredible that anybody purporting to be operating as an effective and professional level in the year 2011 given the sum of public finances spent on online facilities, could communicate or operate without providing this information. In the light of one of the arguments being considered by Parental Equality that the core of their application was based on "digital-space" service delivery to what is essentially going to be a cohort of digital natives and very much in alignment with the EU digital agenda, the absence of apparent competence and practice by departmental officials with these "normal technologies" (including an apparent inability or at least unexplained incapacity by Pat Boyle to competently attach two documents by e-mail ref: e-mail sent by Pat Boyle 5 July 2011 14:59). Furthermore, I was personally shocked to read in the customer services charter on your Department's website, that in response to either an e-mail or snail mail that "we aim to respond to your query in clear plain language within 15 working days". Firstly, to equate snail mail and e-mail in terms of delivery and response times is both offensive and technically ignorant. Secondly, with the understandable caveat that all correspondence would merit due consideration before responding, the suggestion in a digital age that 15 days (and working days at that) is an example of "best-practice" performance is itself evidence of dinosaur thinking within your Department and if such thinking is allowed to persist will ensure that the outcome of any transformation initiative will simply lead to “more of the same�. .
Analysis of contentious correspondence
The interaction between Parental Equality essentially involves three officials, Ann Walsh (organisational status undefined by her), Pat Boyle APO and Don Sexton PO.
Ann Walsh Ann Walsh was incorrectly presumed by Parental Equality to be the lead and senior official in this arena as her name was the only one identified in this sector on the departmental website. Joe Egan, chairman of Parental Equality maintains that in a telephone conversation with her, Ann Walsh told him that Parental Equality would have 22 days from the date of receipt of feedback assessment in which to prepare an appeal. Despite a clear request for Ann Walsh to either confirm or contradict Joe Egan's statement, she has neither confirmed or denied his claim, rather choosing instead to inexplicably to refer to an imaginary conversation with Paul Coleman, who has confirmed he has never communicated with Ann Walsh and of whom there is no mention on which she could base such an irrational statement. Furthermore, I note her use of the cultural mantra within the public service of "I have no recollection". When Ann Walsh was specifically asked to forward the contents of a complaint against her professional misconduct to the relevant official she both neglected to confirm whether she had done so or not and she failed to respond to a reasonable request made to her that she forward details and/or links explaining the relevant complaints process. In some either Freudian slippage or cynical wordplay she refers to "principle" and "principal" instead of addressing the direct questions that had been put to her.
Action sought:Answers to the queries and requests and responses to the requests in correspondence to Ann Walsh are still outstanding. I am formally requesting that you as assistant secretary arrange to have these answers provided in order to ensure clarity and remove any discrepancy.
Pat Boyle (APO) It is accepted by Parental Equality that the e-mail to Pat Boyle (1 July 2011 15:50), was too naive and loose, albeit written with an expectation of integrity, professional competence, a capacity to interpret a request and the true spirit of public service that one should expect from an assistant principal officer, who probably costs the taxpayer in
the region of â‚Ź75 per hour to employ (if you have a more accurate figure I would gladly reflect this and modify this document). His failure to provide a useful and clear response led to Parental Equality following a forensic if necessarily pedantic approach in correspondence with him, setting out nine specific clear questions in an e-mail to him (5 July 2011 13:45). Most importantly, there was a fundamental failure by Pat Boyle at this point, to recognise and to acknowledge that there was a conflict-of-interest for him insofar as his behaviour and performance in his role within the evaluation committee was being challenged and that he was making an "interested" decision in relation to releasing information which could be used to challenge his behaviour and/or competence in this matter and that at this point he should have sought to remove himself from the process as he was breaching one of the two basic rules of natural justice "Nemo judex in causa sua". In spite of him having to be reminded on a number of occasions to respond to e-mail queries, Pat Boyle finally acknowledged that firstly he had received and successfully opened the detailed nine-question document from Parental Equality. An examination of e-mail correspondence shows that:He stated that he would respond in "due course". He subsequently provided a response which failed to address the specific questions directed to him. He failed to seek clarification or query any of the questions therein (one must therefore assume that he understood the content of these questions) and he subsequently confirmed that his response contained in his e-mail of 7 July 2011 11:02 was a "full note" response. Finally in this e-mail, Pat Boyle having repeatedly prevaricated by failing to answer direct, specific questions (and not having queried or sought clarification on any of these questions) and not having sought to absent himself from a process in which he had a material interest, then stated that he would not enter into a "discourse", thus displaying his complete failure to understand that what was simply being sought from him was clear and specific answers to specific questions and that any subsequent discourse or dialogue that Parental Equality might enter into would by definition not be with him, as he was compromised by being the leader of the evaluation committee.
In his e-mail of 20 July 2011 11:05 Pat Boyle states that he "would just like to add that each applicant received feedback and details of their own marks." This statement by Pat Boyle simply serves to increase the level of suspicion in relation to the overall handling of this evaluation process. If what he says is accurate and correct, then according to his own e-mail of 7 July 2011 11:02, each of the 149 applicants would have received feedback as per that provided for Parental Equality. The question must be
asked as to whether such feedback was only granted after each applicant applied for same, or whether it was sent automatically to each applicant, as part of the planned and overall process. If that were so, then the question arises as to why Parental Equality had to initiate a request for such feedback, which was not supplied along with the notification of grant aid rejection, dated July 7, 2011. Any competent investigation into this matter should require a complete and satisfactory explanation for the suspicions commented on above.
In spite of the fact that Pat Boyle was requested in an e-mail from Parental Equality on 5 July 2011 15:21, for "contact details for the independent appeals office and or the corresponding weblink", his answer in an e-mail on 5 July 2011 15:57, was "There is no Appeals Office, the procedure is that appeals are handled by an officer from outside this Division who had no role in the original applications process." Any reasonable reviewer of this response by a senior official at APO level could only conclude that this information is firstly of no value to the requester and is entirely unhelpful and a further example of Pat Boyle's negative interference with Parental Equality's attempts to prosecute a competent appeal. For example, Pat Boyle must have had forwarding details of an appeals official to which to send whatever appeals were lodged with him on July 5 last and that the very minimum this information should have been provided to Parental Equality. Action sought That the complaints process and investigation be instigated to consider the allegation of professional misconduct by Pat Boyle to be carried out by independent investigators, from outside of civil service culture.
Don Sexton PO It appears from correspondence that Don Sexton was the principal officer to whom both Pat Boyle and Ann Walsh report. His involvement in any discussion around this correspondence is unclear and rather shadowy. However there are at least four references of e-mails from the Department to Parental Equality being copied to him, as listed below:6 July 2011 09:39 7 July 2011 11:02 15 July 2011 08:43 18 July 2011 15:31
One must assume that as the supervisory official responsible for the behaviour and performance of both Pat Boyle and Ann Walsh and given that he had been made aware at a minimum with copied e-mails, it is reasonable to suggest that he would have or should have queried as to the nature of the correspondence and sought to uncover what, if any, difficulties existed. If he did not do so, it is submitted that he is guilty by omission of failing to determine the nature of the problematic correspondence. One must also assume that if he had performed his function and reviewed with his staff, their approach to this issue and if he at no time made any recorded attempt to intervene to try to resolve or move the situation forward, that he must, by virtue of his failure to direct his staff to behave otherwise and/or his failure involve himself to resolve the issue, himself agree in principle with the negative blocking tactics used by his staff.
Action sought I submit that Don Sexton is compromised in terms of him having any future role to play in progressing this issue.
Summary I have been engaged by Parental Equality to assist them in procuring the necessary information for them to prosecute a competent and coherent appeal. My advice to Parental Equality, upon reviewing the correspondence between Parental Equality and your officials is that each of the three named individuals are fundamentally interdependently compromised in terms of future dealings with this issue. I have recommended that the issue be brought to your attention, as you are, as I understand, the most senior official in your Department dealing with Community.
I am formally requesting that you do the following:1. Provide, without delay, information and contact details for the appeals officials or section, who will be dealing with the appeal process, or in the alternative set out your rationale for not being able to, or deciding not to, provide this information. 2. Arrange urgently to have provided to Parental Equality the details and specific answers to questions 1-9 of the word document e-mails to Pat Boyle on 5 July 2011 13:45, bearing in mind that the provision of clear, unequivocal and unambiguous responses to these questions is necessary in order for Parental Equality to complete their appeal documentation. 3. When you have examined the correspondence, I wish you to confirm that you either support or condemn the culture and behaviour of officials in your
Department throughout this correspondence, particularly in light of the transformation of public service process and the Croke Park agreement. 4. Undertake to instigate an independent investigation into the complaints and allegations of professional misconduct to which I have drawn your attention in this communication and ensure that the investigators are drawn from outside the compromised culture which seems to be endemic in public service behaviour in order that the independence of such an investigation can have no perception, in the minds of the public, of being an "in-house" job. 5. Commit to working along with me to achieve, as a matter of public service, my second objective as set out above for producing, publishing, distributing and implementing quality best-practice standards for the provision of information to applicants. 6. Finally, I formally request that you ensure that any communication with me in this regard is carried out in a digital medium, in order to facilitate the online publication and widespread availability of this material in the public interest.
Yours sincerely, Liam Ó Gógáin E-mail:- ogogainl@gmail.com
List of Supporting documents Collation of Email Correspondence. Parental Equality original grant application Notice of failure of application (7 June 2011). Feedback Assessment and cover letter (23 June 2011)
This set of e-mails between Parental Equality and the Department of the Environment cover the period January 24, 2011 to June 9, 2011 inclusive Click here to navigate to the more central and focused correspondence in relation to this issue
AA
Agb to BMCD & AW 24 January 2011 15:02
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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bmcdonagh@pobail.ie
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awalsh@pobail.ie, whitepaper@pobail.ie
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mailed-by
24 January 2011 15:02 Parental Equality Funding Application gmail.com
Dear Ms McDonagh, Please find attached Parental Equality Funding application under the aegis of "Funding scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector". Included with the application are the following documents:- Memorandum & Articles of Association, PE Strategic plan 2006-, PE volunteers list by county, Revenue Commissioners CHY Status, PE Accounts 2009. Please acknowledge receipt of this application by return. Regards -_____________ Alan G. Beirne
Project Manager (Core funding) +353877811218
AB BMCD to Agb 24 January 2011 16:43 from
whitepaper whitepap@pobail.ie
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Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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24 January 2011 16:43
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RE: Parental Equality Funding Application
mailed-by
pobail.ie
Thank you for your application form. The department will be in touch in due course. BrĂd
AC Agb to AW
5 July 2011 16:43
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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msgi.pmcf@gmail.com
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awalsh@pobail.ie,
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9 June 2011 13:23
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Parental Equality
mailedby
gmail.com
Ms Ann Walsh The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, Community & Voluntary Supports Teeling Street, Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo 8th June 2011
Dear Ms Walsh, Thank you for your letter dated 7th June 2011 (copy attached). As you can imagine we are most disappointed that we did not qualify for the funding under the Scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector. Can you please forward at your earliest convenience 1. A copy of the assessment criteria and 2. The result or mark which we did receive and 3. The mark we would have needed in order to be recommended for this funding stream. We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Yours faithfully Alan Beirne Project Manager (Core Funding) Parental Equality
The sequence of e-mails below maps two threads of correspondence, one between Parental Equality and Pat Boyle and the other between Parental Equality and Ann Walsh from the period July 1-18 inclusive (the list below hyperlinks to each individual e-mail for ease of navigation with a link at the end of each e-mail to bring the reader back to Top.)
TOP 1 Agb to PB 1 July 2011 15:50 2 Agb to PB 4 July 2011 20:16 3 Agb to AW 4 July 2011 22:10 4 AW to Agb 5 July 2011 08:49 5 PB to Agb 5 July 2011 09:34 6 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 13:45 7 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 14:02 8 PB to Agb 5 July 2011 14:59 9 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 15:21 10 PB to Agb 5 July 2011 15:57 11 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 16:15 12 PB to Agb 5 July 2011 16:23 13 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 16:59 14 PB to Agb 6 July 2011 09:39 15 PB to Agb 7 July 2011 11:02 16 PB to Agb 12 July 2011 10:38 17 Agb to PB 12 July 2011 17:01 18 PB to Agb 13 July 2011 10:57 19 Agb to PB 14 July 2011 16:59
20 PB to Agb 15 July 2011 08:43 21 Agb to PB 15 July 2011 16:57 22 Agb to PB 18 July 2011 14:00 23 PB to Agb 18 July 2011 15:31 24 Agb to PB 18 July 2011 17:24 25 PB to Agb 20 July 2011 11:05 A Agb to AW 5 July 2011 14:12 B AW to Agb 5 July 2011 14:17 C Agb to AW 5 July 2011 15:01 D Agb to AW 5 July 2011 16:22 E Agb to AW 12 July 2011 10:31 F Agb to AW 12 July 2011 12:57 G AW to Agb 12 July 2011 14:02 H Agb to PC 18 July 2011 15:10 I PC to Agb 18 July 2011 14:02
1 Agb to PB 1 July 2011 15:50 from
*Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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*pat.boyle@environ.ie
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*PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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*1 July 2011 15:50
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*Parental Equality Funding
application appeal mailed-by
*gmail.com
Mr. Pat Boyle Department of Environment, Community and Local Government July 1st 2011 Dear Pat, I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 23rd June 2011. I have been mandated by the new Chairman of Parental Equality, Joseph Egan, to follow up with you in this regard. I note that nowhere in either this letter or the previous letter from Ann Walsh dated 7th June 2011 is there any indication of details of e-mails, web addresses or any digital means of communication with whoever is involved in this funding application process. I notice for your information and thus the essence of the Parental Equality application is founded on the belief that Ireland, whatever about the present reality in the public service sector will only survive by leveraging value for money in the digital space. Parental Equality feel insulted by what appears to be an extremely amateurish, cursory, simplistic and dismissive assessment on an application which was reviewed by others prior to being presented as being of a high quality and professional standard even though it was produced with committed voluntary effort. The objective in seeking feedback was to assist Parental Equality primarily in making an appeal and secondly, in order for us to improve our presentation and approach for future applications for funding. What is provided by the Department is essentially useless in either of these regards. I note also that Parental Equality are being placed under enormous pressure now to produce an appeal before next Tuesday 5th July 2011, with an intervening weekend. I am formally requesting that you engage in any correspondence with me on this matter through e-mail to gbeirne@gmail.com in order to avoid any waste of time. In order for Parental Equality to make an effective appeal we require the following information:A list of the names of those members of the evaluation committee that scored the funding application process. Details of the qualifications and skill sets of the members of the evaluation committee, which would display their competency to evaluate a funding proposal describing an innovative process in the digital space.
A copy of the scoring matrix which presumably was prepared by the evaluation committee setting out the individual criteria and the score of each application against each of these criteria. As this funding process concerns public monies, this information is presumably publicly available. A gender breakdown of the members of the evaluation committee. A copy of whatever equality audit was applied to the outcome of the funding applications to ensure gender equality in the distribution of public funds. A statement of assurance on behalf of the Department that forms are available in the event of a successful appeal. A list of the "other groups working in the area of family breakdown" that are referred to in the feedback assessment. In order to assist you in providing timely, helpful and informative answers to the questions above I attach for your information a copy of the original Parental Equality funding application and recent correspondence. Please acknowledge receipt of this email by the close of business today.
Yours sincerely _____________________ Alan Beirne Project Manager Core Funding Go To TOP
2 Agb to PB 4 July 2011 20:16 from
*Alan Beirne
REMINDER 1
agbeirne@gmail.com to
*pat.boyle@environ.ie
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*PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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*4 July 2011 20:16
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*Re: Parental Equality Funding application appeal
mailed-by
*gmail.com
REMINDER 1 Dear Pat, I emailed you on Friday last and have not heard or received an acknowledgement as requested. It is with some concern that I write again seeking the detail requested last Friday. We cannot be expected to lodge an official appeal if we haven't got the data and necessary information in order that we may proceed with said appeal. Please acknowledge receipt of this email. Alan Beirne
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3 Agb to AW 4 July 2011 22:10 from
*Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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*ann.walsh@environ.ie
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*4 July 2011 22:10
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*Re: Parental Equality Funding application appeal
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*gmail.com
Dear Ann For your information, please find below email sent to Pat Boyle last Friday and again today. Please acknowledge receipt of this email. Alan Beirne
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4 AW to Agb 5 July 2011 08:49 from
*Ann Walsh Ann.Walsh@environ.ie
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*Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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*5 July 2011 08:49
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*RE: Parental Equality Funding application appeal
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*environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne I acknowledge receipt of your email regarding your appeal. Yours sincerely Ann Walsh Go To TOP
5 PB to Agb 5 July 2011 09:34
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*Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie
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*Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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*PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>, Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>
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*5 July 2011 09:34
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*RE: Parental Equality Funding application appeal
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*environ.ie
Mr Beirne The application process for this scheme was carried out by a team of four led by myself. All of us have been working in the public service for a considerable number of years. I have been responsible for the old scheme for the last two years and the other assessors have even more exprerince in this area. There were two males and two females on the team. The details of funding for the 63 successful groups has been press released and each group was informed of their final mark. However I am unable to give you details of the marks attained by other organisations. On page 15 of your application you have listed a myriad of organisations that are working in the area of family breakdown and that your organisation collarborates with. Finally I must stress that today the 5th of July is the last day on which appeals can be submitted. Patrick Boyle Assistant Principal
ENDS
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6 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 13:45 from
Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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pat.boyle@environ.ie PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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5 July 2011 13:45
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URGENT
mailed-by
gmail.com
Please acknowledge receipt of this email and note the urgency of the content.
Alan G. Beirne Word document attached Mr. Pat Boyle Assistant Principle Officer Department of the Environment, Community & Local government Community & Voluntary Supports Pat.boyle@environ.ie July 5th 2011 Dear Patrick, I acknowledge your e-mail response to my 1st reminder of an e-mail sent last Friday, 1July 2011, in which I set out a number of specific questions on behalf of Parental Equality, which are necessary for us to have clarification on, in order for us to prepare a comprehensive and professional appeal. I note in your response e-mail, posted by you at 9:34 AM today, that you stressed that Parental Equality have less than 8 hours before 5 PM today in which to submit an appeal.
I have circulated your correspondence and I have been asked to respond to you on behalf of the group, with the following queries:1. Please confirm what is the basis of the date of 5th of July which you have set down as the last date for appeal. Is this an arbitrary date? Is it a date specifically related to the provision to the appellant of either (a) the decision to refuse to grant our application, (b) feedback assessment on the unsuccessful application, or (c) a date set down in legislation or some statutory process? 2. You stated in your e-mail that you are "unable to giveâ&#x20AC;Ś details of the marks attained by other organisations". Please clarify, by return, whether you are "unable" because of a lack of access by you to the information requested, an inability on your side, technically or otherwise, to transmit this data to us, or some statutorily based restriction which precludes us from having this information. 3. For the purposes of clarification I would like to restate our application for a breakdown of information in the form of a scoring matrix about the performance of our original application. Our understanding of a scoring matrix is that it should lay out the different marks received against each criteria where each of these individual marks would have added up to a total of 48 marks in our case. Based on the presumption that the structure of the scoring matrix if sorted on a top to bottom total score, this would record the different applications by row. Please respond to each the three points below:4. a. At the very minimum, there should be no query about providing Parental Equality with the breakdown of scorers versus criteria for our own application. Will you provide these details? b. Another layer of information would be to provide the scoring matrix with all of the other applicants' details being blanked out, but showing the relative positioning of Parental Equality's performance with respect to the others. Will you provide these details? If not, what is the basis for your refusal to do so? c. A further layer of information would be to provide the scoring matrix with all details of all applicants including their scorers against each element of criteria. This information is being sought on the understanding of the meaning of transparency in the use of and application for public monies? Will you provide these details? If not, what is the basis for your refusal to do so? 5. In relation to our application for "Details of the qualifications and skill sets of the members of the evaluation committee, which would display their competency to evaluate a funding proposal describing an innovative process in the digital space", I note your response explains that the four of you have a considerable number of years of experience of the public service and are responsible for the "old scheme". I wish to emphasise that on the basis of our experience to date with our dealings with your section and the lack of web-based proactive communication from your department
and reflecting on the shallowness of the feedback assessment which we have been provided with to date, which indicates a fundamental failure to grasp the innovative and essentially, collaborative, digital/online nature of the application, our request for confirmation of competencies requires clarification of the skill sets of the evaluation participants which are in accordance with the guidelines for the digital EU agenda. Once again I am requesting that you specifically set out the skill sets of each member of the team led by yourself in relation to core competencies around digital, online, collaborative processes in the digital space which would assert your credentials to competently assess our application. 6. Please confirm whether you are familiar or not with the digital EU agenda (this link may assist you http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/index_en.htm ). 7. You seem to have failed to either notice, or deal with the specific request for you to provide "A copy of whatever equality audit was applied to the outcome of the funding applications to ensure gender equality in the distribution of public funds." I am requesting that you do so by return, or confirm that you either don't know about equality audits, or that there is no process of doing an equality audit in the carrying out of dispersal of public monies in this regard. 8. In the third paragraph of your e-mail this morning, you state that our application lists a myriad of organisations working in the area of family breakdown that our organisation collaborates with. This response further reinforces our belief that there has been a fundamental misunderstanding of the thrust of and fundamental innovative value of the Parental Equality application. Please confirm what other collaborative efforts to pull together the combined skill sets and service delivery opportunities focused on addressing the marginalisation of fathers and their children within Ireland and the Irish Diaspora, have been or are being funded by either your department or other statutory services, which either make our application redundant or unnecessary? 9. Please confirm if your superior is Ann Walsh, principal officer? Finally I request a response by return to enable us to address your prohibitive deadline. Alan Beirne Go To TOP
7 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 14:02 from
Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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pat.boyle@environ.ie
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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5 July 2011 14:02
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APPEALS FORMAT SPECIFICATION ---- URGENT
mailed-by
gmail.com
Dear Patrick, Please forward to me by return details of any specific form of wording or any specific form that is required in order for us to make an appeal against the decision to turn down the funding application by Parental Equality. Please forward to me details of the appeals process as set out in any statutory documentation, or if not so set out, a reference to any documentation which forms the basis of the appeals process. This information should include contact details of the appeals officials and all relevant timelines. -_____________ Alan G. Beirne Go To TOP
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PB to Agb 5 July 2011 14:59
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Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>,
Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie> date
5 July 2011 14:59
subject
RE: APPEALS FORMAT SPECIFICATION ---- URGENT
mailed-by
environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne I attach copies of corresspondence issued to your organisation on 7 June 2011 and 23 June 2011. From both of these it is clear that the final date for receipt of appeals is 5 July 2011. This date allowed 28 days from the date of the original letter informing applicants of the result of their applications. All that is required is a letter stating the reason/basis for your appeal. If you forward your appeal to either myself or Ann Walsh, we will forward the appeal to the Appeals Officer for consideration. Please note the appeal is handled by an Independent Appeals Officer and this section has no further role in the appeals process. Pat Boyle Assistant Principal Go To TOP
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Agb to PB 5 July 2011 15:21
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com Pat Boyle <Pat.Boyle@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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5 July 2011 15:21
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Re: APPEALS FORMAT SPECIFICATION ---- URGENT
mailed-by
gmail.com
Dear Patrick, I refer to your e-mail response to me sent by you at 14.59 hours today. You refer to copies of correspondence which you say you have attached. I apologise in advance if the problem is at my end but I appear to have received a zipped file containing two documents titled noname and noname_1. When I attempted to open them they are essentially illegible. I would appreciate if you would confirm by immediate return what format these documents should be accessed in. Please provide me also by return contact details for the independent appeals office and or the corresponding weblink. Yours sincerely Alan Beirne Go To TOP
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Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie "agbeirne@gmail.com" <agbeirne@gmail.com> 5 July 2011 15:57 FW: APPEALS FORMAT SPECIFICATION ---- URGENT
mailed-by
environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne The two documents in question were the correspondence giving details of the result of your appluication and secodly the feedback letter. I have copied out both to the bottom of this email. There is no Appeals Office, the procedure is that appeals are handled by an officer from outside this Division who had no role in the original applications process.
Regards Pat Boyle BOTH OF PAT BOYLESâ&#x20AC;&#x; EMAILS FORWARDED TO L.Oâ&#x20AC;&#x;GOGAIN
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11
Agb to PB 5 July 2011 16:15
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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Pat Boyle <pat.boyle@environ.ie>
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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5 July 2011 16:15
subject
Parental Equality appeal process
mailed-by
gmail.com
Dear Patrick
I sent you an e-mail at 13.45 today setting out a number of queries, the answer to which directly impacts on our ability to make a full and professional appeal to the refusal of our grant application. I note that you have chosen to answer a later e-mail from me but have failed yet to either provide me with answers to the queries set out or even to acknowledge receipt of same. As there is less than an hour to go before 5 PM I insist that you either respond to these queries immediately or state your reasons for failing to do so. At the very minimum I request that you immediately acknowledge receipt of this e-mail. Yours sincerely -_____________ Alan G. Beirne Go To TOP
12 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 16:23 from
Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie
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Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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5 July 2011 16:23
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RE: Parental Equality appeal process
mailed-by
environ.ie
Dear Mr Byrne, your email of 13.45 will be dealt with in due course but it will not be today. Again I emphasise that today is the deadline for submission of appeals.
Yours
Pat Boyle Go To TOP
13 Agb to PB 5 July 2011 16:59 from
Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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Pat Boyle <pat.boyle@environ.ie>
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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5 July 2011 16:59
subject
PE APPEAL
mailed-by
gmail.com
Dear Patrick, I refer to the ongoing correspondence between ourselves in Parental Equality and both yourself and your superior Ann Walsh (we presume this to be the case study you are failed despite our request to clarify this matter) in relation to our unsuccessful application for funding. Once again we have been shocked but unsurprised with the dismissive and discriminatory treatment by statutory bodies such as yourselves, of those representing the needs of fathers and their children in Irish society who have been putting in numerous hours over the year in a voluntary capacity. I've been asked by our chairman, Joe Egan, to lodge an appeal by Parental Equality against the decision to reject our funding application. I wish to confirm that we have been given prohibitively short time frames within which to prepare an appeal, and have been impeded at every stage when seeking to procure useful, comprehensive and professional feedback in order for us to reflect on the value, merits and shortcomings of our own application and to prepare a competent and professional appeal.
Parental Equality are formally requesting the following:1. In order to ensure fairness of procedures PE seek a direction from the appeals officer to instruct Pat Boyle to provide professional and comprehensive responses to the set of queries which have been set out to him by Parental Equality, In particular since Friday, 1 July last, and that an extension of time be provided to Parental Equality to allow us to consider the information when provided by Pat Boyle and or other relevant officials within the Department, so that we can properly prosecute our appeal.
2. As a result of either the deliberate or incompetent actions on the part of Department officials which have inhibited all reasonable efforts by our essentially voluntary group to prepare a competent and professional appeal, Parental Equality have been denied access to information which would enable us to make an effective appeal application. For example, one of the arguments in our appeal will be that the application process was for core funding and that we will want to look at the funding given to such large organisations such as the GAA & Barnardos who actually would have core funding already. We therefore require access to the scoring matrix information as requested in order to complete our appeal.
3. In the light of the above points and the extremely negative experience by Parental Equality of trying to have an open, transparent applications and feedback process with integrity, we submit and request that this appeal should be processed as an oral appeal with the provision of digital recording being provided by the appeals process as part of the collation of a web-based reflection in the public domain about how this management or mismanagement of public funds is being prosecuted.
Note: The direct and latest example of the frustrating departmental behaviour Is exemplified by The following quote in an e-mail from Pat Boyle, send at 16.33 today....â&#x20AC;?Mr Byrne, your email of 13.45 will be dealt with in due course but it will not be today. Again I emphasise that today is the deadline for submission of appeals.â&#x20AC;? This information is and was necessary for Parental Equality to prepare a proper appeal and we have been once again frustrated in our efforts and denied the opportunity to have the 22 day period which already had been specified by the superior officer (as we presume) Ann Walsh. I request that you confirm, by return, receipt of same as having been received before 5 PM today Yous Sincerely Alan Beirne
-_____________
Alan G. Beirne Go To TOP
14 PB to Agb 6 July 2011 09:39 from
Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie
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Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>, Don Sexton <Don.Sexton@environ.ie>, Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>
date
6 July 2011 09:39
subject
RE: PE APPEAL
mailed-by
environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne, I wish to acknowledge receipt of this email. Your file will now be passed on to the Appeals Officer. As there are around 20 appeals, we expect the process to take a few weeks to be finalised. The Principal Officer in this area is Don Sexton. Yours Pat Boyle Assistant Principal Go To TOP
15 PB to Agb 7 July 2011 11:02 from
Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie
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Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>, Don Sexton <Don.Sexton@environ.ie>
date
7 July 2011 11:02
subject
RE: PE APPEAL
mailed-by
environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne Below please find a detailled note on the application and selection process used on the Scheme for National Organisations. Yours Pat Boyle Assistant Principal Note below was attached ____________________________________________________________________________ __ Note on the Assessment & Selection Process The new three year funding scheme was announced in December 2010 and is scheduled to commence by end June 2011. It attracted 149 applications of which 63 are recommended for funding. As with the previous schemes, funding was prioritised to those organisations representing the disadvantaged and who provide key services to such groups. The subsections below describe: How the scheme, and the basis on which the grants would be awarded, were announced to prospective applicants by the Department; The Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s identification of the eligible applicants from the applications received;
The Department‟s process to assess eligible applications to identify which applicants should receive a grant; and, How grants amounts would be calculated and disbursed by the Department.
Guidelines to the scheme were prepared and published on the website of the Department. These guidelines indicated that funding would be provided for core operating costs comprising staffing costs, administration costs and ongoing running costs and that priority would be given to organisations providing key services to the disadvantage. It was noted that maximum funding of €120,000 would be provided per annum. The guidelines expressly state that funding would not be available for training costs. The assessment criteria for funds were clearly outlined comprising the following five selection criteria: The extent to which the organisation provides services to the disadvantaged; The level of added value within the sector; The deliverables and impact of the funding; The viability, value for money and governance of the organisation; and The level of cooperation/integration/consolidation with similar/allied organisations; The financial requirements and tax clearance procedures for applicants were also clearly stipulated. Funds would be drawn down on a six monthly basis and successful applicants would be required to submit financial accounts for the immediate preceding six months and projections of income and expenditure for the following six months. Additionally, they would be required to have an independent firm of auditors and fully audited and certified accounts would be submitted annually by the organisation. Further, organisations must be registered for tax and in possession of a tax clearance certificate, for funding over €10,000, with the exception of those that have a charity number. The application form was also made available online and sought information under the following three headings: Details of Organisation; Details of existing grants/contributors; Details of funding sought.
Summary of Applications A total of 149 applications were received from a variety of organisations, of which 63 were successful in obtaining funding. The results of the Department‟s screening and assessment are summarised in Table 1.1 below:
Table 1.1: Summary of Applications______________________________________ Grant Applications Number of Applications Applications rejected as being ineligible for the scheme before merits of project were considered
37
Applications found to be ineligible during the scoring process
4
Applications scoring too low to be recommended for funding
45
Successful applications
63
Total applications
149
Eligibility Check Organisations were deemed eligible for the scheme if they were a national organisation, had nationwide membership, met the financial and tax requirements and were seeking funds for core costs. Ineligible applications were identified early in the assessment process and were informed in writing for the reason of ineligibility and their right to appeal. Applicants who choose to appeal had their subsequent assessment undertaken by a person not involved in the initial assessment process.
Assessment of Eligible Applications Eligible applications were assessed on the five selection criteria outlined above. Each application was assessed individually by an official within the C&V Supports Division and then reviewed by an assessment team of four. Following consultations with the assessors, applications could have their overall score increased or decreased. The following weightings were applied to the selection criteria Extent to which proposal focuses on Disadvantage Deliverables and Impact of the Funding Level of Added Value within the sector
20/100 25/100 20/100
Viability, value for money and governance Level of cooperation/consolidation with similar/allied organisations
20/100 15/100
Allocation of Grants Successful organisations will receive funding on an annual contract basis for a three year period from July2011, however funding in 2012 and 2013 is subject to available resources. Payment in 2011 will be for 6 months only. Initial payment will be distributed subject to satisfying financial and tax requirements and producing an agreed work plan consistent with the proposal contained in their application. Ongoing payments of funds will be subject to regular progress reports against the agreed work plan and the submission of financial reports. ENDS
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16 Agb to PB 12 July 2011 10:38 from
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com Pat Boyle <pat.boyle@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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12 July 2011 10:38
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Parental Equality appeals process
mailed-by
gmail.com
July 12th 2011 Dear Pat, I confirm receipt of your e-mail to me sent on 7 July at 11.02 last. In order for us to understand the context of the material you supplied, I require you to confirm by return, that you were able to successfully open the word document sent to you in my e-mail dated 5 July 2011 at 13.45, which set out a range of numbered and specific queries.
Alan Beirne Project Coordinator
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17 Agb to PB 12 July 2011 17:01 from
Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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Pat Boyle <pat.boyle@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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12 July 2011 17:01
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Re: Parental Equality appeals process
mailed-by
gmail.com
REMINDER 1 Please acknowledge receipt of my email sent to you today at 10:38. Yours sincerely Alan Beirne Project Coordinator Go To TOP
18 PB to Agb 13 July 2011 10:57
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Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie
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Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>
date
13 July 2011 10:57
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RE: Parental Equality appeals process
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environ.ie
Mr Beirne Emails of 10.38 and 17.02 of 12 July received. Yours
Pat Boyle Go To TOP
19 Agb to PB 14 July 2011 16:59 from
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com Pat Boyle <Pat.Boyle@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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14 July 2011 16:59
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Re: Parental Equality appeals
process mailed-by
gmail.com
Dear Pat, Thank you for acknowledging, yesterday, receipt of my e-mails sent to you 12th July. I note that your response is brief and succinct and that it would have occupied very little of your time to do. I would therefore ask you to reply with a simple yes or no to the closed question asked of you in the e-mail of July 12, 2011 which you have acknowledged that you had received. I trust that as with your acknowledgement you will provide this answer by return.
Yours sincerely Alan Beirne Project Coordinator
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20 PB to Agb 15 July 2011 08:43 from
Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie
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Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>, Don Sexton <Don.Sexton@environ.ie>
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mailed-by
15 July 2011 08:43 RE: Parental Equality appeals process environ.ie
Mr Beirne Attachment was successfully opened. Yours Pat Boyle Go To TOP
21 Agb to PB 15 July 2011 16:57 from
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com Pat Boyle <pat.boyle@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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15 July 2011 16:57
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Parental Equality appeal process
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gmail.com
July 15th 2011 Dear Pat, Now that you have confirmed that you were able to successfully open the word document sent to you in my e-mail dated 5 July 2011 at 13.45, which set out a range of numbered and specific queries, I request that you clarify whether or not your e-mail sent to me and copied by you to Don Sexton was intended to be your considered response (please note that you specifically declined to respond to those range of pertinent questions in a time frame which would have been before the deadline restated to us by you on 5 July 2011, stating that you would do this in "due course") to the specific and individual questions that you had been asked to address therein. Yours sincerely
Alan Beirne Project Coordinator Go To TOP
22 Agb to PB 18 July 2011 14:00 from
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Pat Boyle <pat.boyle@environ.ie>
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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18 July 2011 14:00
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Re: Parental Equality appeal process
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gmail.com
REMINDER 1 Dear Pat, Please acknowledge receipt of my email of Friday last sent to you at 16:57. Yours sincerely Alan Beirne Project Coordinator Go To TOP
23 PB to Agb 18 July 2011 15:31 from
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Pat Boyle Pat.Boyle@environ.ie Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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Don Sexton <Don.Sexton@environ.ie>, Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>
date
18 July 2011 15:31
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RE: Parental Equality appeal process
mailed-by
environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne Email of Friday 16.57 successfully received.
Yours
Pat Boyle Go To TOP
24 Agb to PB 18 July 2011 17:24 from
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com Pat Boyle <Pat.Boyle@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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mailed-by July 18th 2011
18 July 2011 17:24 Re: Parental Equality appeal process gmail.com
Dear Pat I note that you have confirmed by e-mail to me today at 15.51, after yet another reminder for you to do so, that you received my e-mail sent to you with the specific query last Friday. Please confirm, by return, your response to the closed question set out in that e-mail of Friday July 15th. Please also confirm, by return that you have opened this e-mail. I wish to put on record our frustration at your incessant prevarication and avoidance of answering reasonable questions in what appears to be a proactive attempt to delay and frustrate our efforts to seek information which should be readily available to us, or in the alternative that there should be sensible logical and well referenced reasons for us not to have this information.
Yours sincerely Alan Beirne Project Coordinator Go To TOP
25 PB to Agb 20 July 2011 11:05 to
date subject
mailedby
Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>, Don Sexton <Don.Sexton@environ.ie>, Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie> 20 July 2011 11:05 RE: Parental Equality appeal process environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne My coorespondence to you of 7 July 2011 gave a very full note on the assessment and selection process for the new scheme.
In addition I would just like to add that each applicant received feedback and details of their own marks. I do not intend releasing this information to any third party. I also will not enter into discourse on the skills sets or qualifications of the staff who marked the applications. Finally I would like to point out that all organisations were given 28 days notice of the appeal date. This certainly is at the upper limits that anyone would expect.
Regards
Pat Boyle Go To TOP
A Agb to AW 5 July 2011 14:12 B AW to Agb 5 July 2011 14:17 C Agb to AW 5 July 2011 15:01 D Agb to AW 5 July 2011 16:22 E Agb to AW 12 July 2011 10:31 F Agb to AW 12 July 2011 12:57 G AW to Agb 12 July 2011 14:02 H Agb tp PC 18 July 2011 15:10 I PC to Agb 18 July 2011 23:58
A Agb to AW 5 July 2011 14:12 from
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*ann.walsh@environ.ie
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*PaulColeman
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*5 July 2011 14:12
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*Closing date for PE appeal clarifaction sought
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*gmail.com
Dear Ann, I have been informed by our Chairman Joe Egan, that he had been verbally assured by you that Parental Equality would have 22 days from the receipt of the feedback assessment from your department (which was only sent to us on 23 June last), to lodge an appeal against the refusal to fund our application. Please confirm that this is the case and that you have confirmed that detail with Pat Boyle, who is stressing that we submit our appeal by 5 PM today 5 July -_____________ Alan G. Beirne Project Coordinator Parental Equality
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AW to Agb 5 July 2011 14:17
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*Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
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*5 July 2011 14:17
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*RE: Closing date for PE appeal clarifaction sought
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*environ.ie
The closing date for appeals is 5 July as stated in letter of 23 June. Regards Ann Go To TOP
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*Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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*Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>
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*PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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*5 July 2011 15:01
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*Re: Closing date for PE appeal clarifaction sought
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*gmail.com
Dear Anne, For the purposes of clarification I have cross checked with our chairman Joe Egan and he has reassured me that you did in fact during a recent phone call with him tell him that Parental Equality would have 22 days from the date of receipt of feedback from your department to make our appeal. As the information was only received by us around 25 June last, this should give us approximately until Sunday, 17 July to make our appeal. Please confirm that you did in fact state this information to Joe Egan in your phone conversation. Alan Beirne Go To TOP
D Agb to AW 5 July 2011 16:22 from
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*Ann Walsh <Ann.Walsh@environ.ie>
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*PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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*5 July 2011 16:22
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*Re: Closing date for PE appeal clarifaction sought
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*gmail.com
Dear Ann, I would be grateful if you would bring the information below to the attention of the relevant complaints personnel associated with your department. Yours sincerely Alan Beirne â&#x20AC;&#x153;In attempting to prepare a comprehensive appeal and to clarify the length of time which would be made available to Parental Equality to do so, I have sought clarification from Ann Walsh, principal officer, to confirm that he had she had verbally told our chairman Joe Egan that we would have 22 days from the receipt of the feedback on assessment, in which to prepare and make an appeal. Despite repeated calls for her to clarify this matter, she has failed to take the opportunity to do so, thus making our preparation of an appeal more difficult. Parental Equality wish to process a complaint against this unprofessional misconduct by Ann Walsh. -_____________ Alan G. Beirne Go To TOP
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com Ann Walsh <ann.walsh@environ.ie> PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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12 July 2011 10:31
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Parental Equality appeals process
mailed-by
gmail.com
July 12th 2011 Dear Anne, I refer to my e-mail sent to you on 5 July 2011 last at 16.22. Please confirm your receipt of same. Please confirm, by return, whether or not you have acted on the request therein to "bring the information below to the attention of the relevant complaints personnel associated with your department." If you have brought the information to the attention of the relevant personnel, please forward to me your correspondence to such person or persons in that regard (I am making the reasonable presumption that this correspondence is in electronic format and that therefore you can forward this to me immediately by e-mail). Acknowledging your senior position as Principal Officer, I am requesting that you forward to me a link to an online source setting out the complaints process that applies to your section and/or your department.
Yours sincerely
Alan Beirne Project Coordinator
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Agb to AW 12 July 2011 12:57
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Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
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Ann Walsh <ann.walsh@environ.ie>
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PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
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12 July 2011 12:57
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Re: Parental Equality appeals process
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gmail.com
July 12th 2011 Dear Anne, I refer to my two e-mails sent to you on July 5, 2011 last, first at 14.12, followed by a further request for clarification send at 15.01. In spite of the stress to Parental Equality caused by the prohibitively limiting deadline of the same day which was being set for us in Parental Equality to lodge an appeal, you failed to respond to those e-mails, confirming or denying that you had in an earlier phone conversation with our chairman Joe Egan stated "that Parental Equality would have 22 days from the date of receipt of feedback from your department to make our appeal." Given that the question asked of you is such that it would be reasonable to submit that you have the answer to that question directly at your own disposal, I submit that there is no reasonable explanation for your failure to respond confirming or denying the statement, I must assume, unless you confirm by return e-mail otherwise, that you accept that the recollection of our chairman Joe Egan is accurate.
Yours sincerely Alan Beirne Project Coordinator Go To TOP
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mailed-by
Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com> 12 July 2011 14:02 RE: Parental Equality appeals process environ.ie
Dear Mr Beirne I wish to confirm that I have no recollection of speaking to Paul Coleman and telling him that he would have 22 days from the date of receipt of feedback from your department to make our appeal. However, I can confirm that two communications issued to your organisation stating that the final date for receipt of appeals was 5th July 2011. Secondly, I am not a Principle Officer and if you wish to make a complaint to the Principal Officer you can email him at Don.Sexton@environ.ie. Yours sincerely Ann Walsh
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H Agb to PC 18 July 2011 15:10
from
Alan Beirne agbeirne@gmail.com
to
PaulColeman <secretary@parentalequality.ie>
cc
Ann Walsh <ann.walsh@environ.ie>
date
18 July 2011 15:10
subject
Fwd: Parental Equality appeals process
mailed-by
gmail.com
Dear Paul, Please note the email from Ann Walsh below. I appreciate that you were on holidays last week. Can you please claify details of any conversation that you may have had with Ann Walsh as referred to by her in the email. Best Regards Alan
I
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PC to Agb 18 July 2011 23:58
from
secretary@parentalequality.ie
to
Alan Beirne <agbeirne@gmail.com>
date
18 July 2011 23:58
subject
RE: Parental Equality appeals process
Dear Alan, I acknowledge receipt of your email, however I am confused regarding its contents. I did not have any conversation with Ann Walsh.
Regards Paul
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Parental Equality original grant application
Contents Page Application Form Appendix 1 Memo & Arts Appendix 2 Parental Equality Strategic Plan 2006-? Appendix 3 Names & Emails of Volunteer groups Appendix 4 Revenue Commissioners CHY Status Appendix 5 Parental Equality 2009 Accounts
Funding Scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector ● ● ● ● ●
Please read the guidelines before completing this application form It is important that you fully answer ALL questions Please use BLOCK CAPITALS for handwritten applications Two copies of your application should be submitted Additional information may be included on a separate sheet or by extending the form if using the electronic version Part 1 Details of your Organisation
Name of Organisation: Address:
ParentalEquality.ie Limited
Phone: Fax: E-mail Address: Contact name and number:
042-9333163
2.
15a Clanbrassil Street Dundalk County Louth
parental.equality@gmail.com Alan Beirne (Project Manager Core Funding) 087-7811218
Please indicate your Organisation’s legal structure e.g. Company Limited by Guarantee; Co-op; Constitution; Trust, etc.
Parental Equality.ie is a company limited by guarantee and in accordance with company law must submit an annual return to the Companies Registration Office. Parental Equality has a constitution and charitable status, (see point 3 below for details). There are four directors. A copy of the memorandum and articles of association is attached, (see appendix 1). 3.
Please state your Tax Reference Number or Charitable Status (CHY) Number? C
H
Y
1
1
0
7
4
4. When was your Organisation established? 1992 5. Describe the Structure of your Organisation Applicants should provide evidence of national status by indicating the nationwide structure The Parental Equality service helps to overcome some of the barriers to Fathers seeking assistance during family breakdown. Our service is confidential. Parental Equality offers a safe, supportive environment where service users can explore options that are available to them. Parental Equality offers a number of support services including: ● a national phone line, ● linking of clients to locally based volunteers in the national network for information and personal support in locations around the country, ● online forum (to discuss service user issues and develop best practice response) and ● an email support service. 2
Parental Equality has a board of four directors, which direct the group activities nationally. Our head office is based in Dundalk where there is a full time men’s health and support worker (resourced by a FÁS Job Initiative Scheme). The plan is to roll this out nationally, and have a men’s health and support worker in every county. Reporting to the board is a number of active volunteers who are geographically interspersed throughout Ireland. Volunteers are essentially service users who over time become committed and dedicate their time to the work of the organisation. Communications and operational meetings are held using conferencing (e.g. Skype and VoIP) and mobile phone call conferencing. The PE web site is at the core with Google groups, Google docs along with a cloud based digital file sharing repository as collaborative tools for information sharing. This structure removes the geographical disadvantage for volunteers and service users located in remote areas of the country. On average, there are 30 active online connected volunteers nationally at any time. Due to the nature of family dynamics volunteers’ circumstances can change and therefore their ability to commit can also vary. However, the online group collaborative process directed by the board is constant and focused. There are a number of web content creators among the volunteers who serve to update and build up the web support content. There is an outer layer of volunteers. Typically these are parents and grandparents whose children are now raised and who offer mentoring and listening support via face to face, online forum chat and over the phone. Service users’ initial contact with Parental Equality comes from: ● Email to parental.equality@gmail.com following online search via a search engine or referrals from friends, family, CIC offices, MABS, solicitors, doctors, counselling, psychotherapists, mediators, health service employees, Garda, community workers and teachers. ●
Phone calls to national helpline at 042-9333163 following referrals from friends, family, CIC offices, MABS, solicitors, doctors, counselling, psychotherapists, mediators, health 3
service employees, Garda, community workers, teachers, and located in emergency helpline section in phone book. ●
It is proposed to roll out an online chat forum which has been in beta trial during 2010
It is our aim to respond to new service users within 48 hours, whether by email, by phone or to our website. Service users are contacted back and information leaflets may be posted out (free of charge- postage is a cost to the organisation, particularly to service those disadvantaged service users that do not have Internet access). Through the use of modern technology an increasing amount of service user queries are addressed by emailing information to them. New service users are offered the opportunity of availing of personal locally based support from among the national network of volunteers. Service users may then easily meet up with volunteers which facilitates the development of one to one support relationships. Emerging issues are discussed and reflected on in online group conferences between volunteers where best practice is applied and developed. This operating structure makes it viable to maintain a service user support relationship irrespective of the service users’ location. It provides 24/7/365 access, information and contact details for service users. This allows for value for money to be optimised, as there is country wide access at minimal costs in terms of offices, travel and communications. Service users are therefore not burdened with travel costs. Communication costs are kept to a minimum by utilising free call packages from various networks, such as free calls within your network or free evening calls, VoIP and Skype calls. A free group text alert system has been set up to provide continuity and keeps all volunteers and service users up to date. Additionally, we are currently developing Facebook and Twitter processes. In order to protect volunteers and service users, new service users information is relayed to the volunteers who then typically initiate contact via a phone call or email. When a relationship is developed the volunteer may choose to disclose their private phone details to the new service user. ● Proposed online chat forum. Having completed the pilot phase of our online chat forum service over 2010, Parental Equality intends in 2011 to launch this service nationwide through our network of volunteers. Below we've answered some of the most common questions we've had about the new service. ● How does it work? During our pilot phase, it has been observed that many service users expressed anxiety about disclosing their personal family circumstances in an open public meeting environment. The online chat forum service will work in the same way as our weekly support group / self help meetings throughout the country. This give service users (attendees) a safe space where they can talk through their specific concerns, learn coping skills from others and explore the options available to them with total anonymity. Each session opens at a specified time, is facilitated by a trained Parental Equality facilitator and is attended by up to 10 service users. Typical issues for discussion are maintenance, parenting and isolation. We note that the new advertising campaign by Aware emphasises the online chat forum facility as an innovative use of the internet for service delivery (Aware’s online chat forum service.) Their research backs up the results from our pilot phase for the Parental Equality online chat forum. ● Is it confidential? Yes. The new service will be entirely confidential.
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6. Please state the process by which membership of your Organisation is achieved and the membership fee payable per annum. The nature of Parental Equality as a support group for those affected by relationship breakdown, means that the definition of membership has been different than the traditional club or group. Parental Equality is essentially a community of interests! In so far as many of the service users and volunteers may never meet face to face due to the geographical separation and yet have through the use of technology developed strong support relationships and friendships. Membership is free to both service users and volunteers and established by virtue of a person becoming active as a volunteer when one joins peers in determining the priorities and directions of the organisation. Face to face meetings and networking are encouraged at seminars and conferences that are held around the country at regular intervals. Extent to which proposal focuses on disadvantage: ● Service users who come to Parental Equality are usually in dire financial straits. Parental Equality addresses this disadvantage by being free at the point of use. Often service users begin contact via a text message, an email or a short phone call to the emergency helpline requesting to be called back due to the fact that they do not have any phone credit. ●
The objective is to maintain this proven model of a free service supporting financially strapped and emotionally isolated service users, many of whom are struggling to maintain a relationship with their children and who are often living in remote areas of the country.
●
Service users quickly become part of a community of interests whether over the phone or online, resulting in reduced isolation. The online chat forum provides an opportunity for shy people to avoid fear of disclosing personal information in a public environment. Some service users in rural areas have expressed concerns about being identifiable in their community.
●
While it might be presumed that a web supported service excludes lower socio economic clients our experience is that with internet access available in all libraries, many public offices and the many high street internet cafes phone callers to PE rapidly transition to the very accessible web information and then have a continuous link to information and support.
Deliverables and Impact of the Funding: ● Parental Equality have managed to maintain this high value / low operating cost service since 2006 in accordance with the outcome of the review and strategic development plan 2006 - ? (see appendix 2). ●
The success of this application will provide Parental Equality with the opportunity to continue to work professionally with the expanding national network of volunteers.
●
To stabilise and provide ongoing administrative support.
●
To make this administrative support sustainable.
●
To harness the enormous goodwill of the volunteers, their skills and energies countrywide.
●
To leverage a generation of volunteers who are now knowledgeable and learned in the communication support system which has developed through their own personal coal face experience.
5
●
To facilitate this team of volunteers to continue to act as mentoring for separated parents and families experiencing relationship breakdown issues.
Please attach on a separate sheet names and contact addresses of your member groups by county (see appendix 3).
7. Describe the aims and objectives of the Organisation Parental Equality mission statement: Our mission in Parental Equality is to seek, both through our own activities and through our involvement with the education of our future generation of parents, to play a proactive role in creating a culture of shared family responsibilities, enabling women and men equally, to realise their optimum potential, both in their family lives and careers. In recognition of the UN convention on the rights of the Child, Parental Equality aim to achieve Parity of Esteem for all members of the Family System. In furtherance of this goal, Parental Equality undertake to support, promote and encourage, with due respect for the freedom of the individual, increased participation for men as carers in the family system, and opportunities for women to open up their traditional domain as child-carers. Parental Equality was founded in 1992 and have been among the few organisations providing information, support and representation in terms of social policy for fathers (both separated and unmarried) who are severely disadvantaged in relation to maintaining effective relationships with their children, post relationship breakdown, with resulting consequential negative emotional and financial impact. Within Parental Equality, the knowledge base and skills acquired in working with fathers and paternal grandparents and in developing successfully implemented “Shared Parenting Plans” for over a generation provides unique added value in the sector of support for “Families in Transition” and through the many submissions, to the design of equitable, children centred and sustainable social policy for service users. 8. Describe the activities of the Organisation Evidence of services provided and the customer base should be stated ●
Evidence of this service pleas visit website at http://www.parentalequality.ie
Maintaining and developing the online website at http://www.parentalequality.ie . This is the core engine of the Parental Equality operating model. This proven service model as developed in 2006 was greatly expanded during 2010 to now having a network volunteer in every county. This proven service model harnesses the learned experiences of trained volunteers and disseminates this knowledge to the service users. The service model operates an open source online digital repository. By peer collaboration, volunteers best practice responses to real life coal face service user issues, are continuously being developed and leveraged to the service users. This knowledge is 6
provided free at the point of use whether it is through the website or over the phone by means of the geographically distributed network of volunteers, thus providing maximum value for money.
The Parental Equality website contains a huge range of material that is constantly expanding.
7
This content management system is a resource library of news sections providing updated information on family related media and other developments; 1. Useful links to other support groups and services 2. Note that the website is searchable and is an added value for researchers, legislators and students doing research projects, etc. 3. Parenting models 4. Work sheets 5. Guides, educating users as to how to engage effectively with solicitors, teachers, social worker, child care professionals etc. 6. Documents, and links to various useful forms and legislation. 7. Newspaper articles 8. Instructional videos 9. Audio, podcasts, motivational and explanatory archive of media 10. Range of submissions to various statutory bodies made by Parental Equality since its inception. This content management system is an invaluable resource of material for researchers of social & family policies along with menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health issues. A successful outcome of this application will ensure the ongoing viability and sustainability of the online information and the services, by funding a professional administrative executive to ensure protected up-time of this invaluable legacy resource. This will enable the expansion of the services to meet the social networking tools that many new clients are using to seek information and support and most importantly to harness the wide range of talents skills and energies of volunteers. Added value within sector: This site is regularly used as a reference site by other groups and services, particularly when fathers approach these services (e.g. CICs, MABs, teachers, priests, politicians, councillors, mediators and counsellors). It also enables users to download information which gives them the tools to design and implement better and more cost effective solutions to their family situations. The website provides â&#x20AC;&#x153;ALWAYS ONâ&#x20AC;? access to information and a connection pathway for service users through email and a national phone helpline. Service users are linked to a locally based member of the volunteer network. The peer interaction of volunteers ensures governance and synchronisation of best practice. In 2010 Parental Equality had combined new user contact of approximately 1500 enquiries, along with 7,000 unique visitors to the website. Each of these contacts was followed up and provided with the appropriate level of information and support.
8
The Parental Equality Board:
Parental Equality organisational chart A subgroup of volunteers are responsible for administering a library of books, research papers, news media material which has been collected and elements donated by many of the Parental Equality volunteers since 1992. Information from this collection is made available to service users. Also, some information is in the process of being digitised for inclusion in the Parental Equality online digital repository. Volunteers also deal with requests by a range of researchers for information. They send out information brochures, they provide information for service user callers. They arrange meetings for service users with experienced volunteers in their local area and / or with volunteers who have specialist knowledge in certain areas. Parental Equality operates an outreach service by a men's health and welfare officer based in Dundalk. The men's health and welfare officer alone has managed to help 250 new service user relationships in the north east and cross border region in 2010. This work is based on the pilot project 2004/5 in Co. Louth, (See Parental Equality Strategic Plan 2006- Page 23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Appendix2). A successful outcome of this application will provide the administrative resource to expand this proven model of the local face to face support backed up by the global online group resource as a franchise model in every county in Ireland, with centrally administered oversight, synchronisation of best practice and training. Engaging with a range of family and fathers groups throughout Europe, sharing knowledge, research, best practice and assisting in cross national child custody and relationship / divorce issues. Parental Equality are involved with http://www.familyplatform.eu/ a European Union sponsored program designing family policy towards 2030. Parental Equality is also engaged in collaboration of European Union groups to establish an EU wide shared parenting representative group and web portal. 9
9. Please give the numbers and standard salaries of employees in your Organisation
Paid Voluntary Community Employment Other Job Initiative Scheme Total
Whole-time Equivalents Nil Nil Nil 1 1
Total Salary Expenditure Nil Nil Nil 25K 25K
10. Please state the salary of your CEO/Manager: ___N/A at present__________
Part 2 – Details of existing grants/contributors 2.1) Please give details of the amount and source of funding received by your Organisation from public funds1 in the last three accounting years. Please specify under which Programme the funding was received: Source HSE HSE HSE
Programme Service level agreement “ “ “ “
TOTAL
2008 €10,000
2009
€3,500
€5,000
2010
€2,000 €13,500
€5,000
€2,000
The minimal and reducing funding is due to the HSE "Stuckness" in thinking whereby they can only support local activities and cannot address National Local/Global web centred support services. PE have maintained the focus on forging ahead with the online legacy based model as set out in the strategic development plan 2006 - ? (see appendix 2). 2.2) Please give details of non public funds received in the last three accounting years: Source Membership Affiliated bodies Public collection Bingo Contributions
2008 nil nil nil €9,939.91
2009 nil nil nil €18,288.35
2010 nil nil nil €13,396.78
TOTAL
€9,939.91
€18,288.35
€13,396.78
The figure for the bingo contributions in 2008 is €9,939.91 and increases to €13,396.78 in 2010 due to fluctuations in the number of people playing the game on a weekly basis.
10
2.3) Please give details in respect of any funding applications currently pending for 2011 and specify under which Programme the funding is pending. Source
TOTAL
Programme
Amounts
N/A
N/A
1
(e.g. Funds from Government Departments, Local Authorities, Health Service Executive, FÁS, VEC, etc)
Part 3 – Details of Funding sought
3.1 Please indicate the costs for which funding is being sought, including individual salaries, other administrative/running costs, etc.
***Staff Costs (inclusive of employers PRSI) List and identify each individually and state whether these posts are co-funded from any other source CEO Net Salary Employer PRSI Administrator Net Salary Employer PRSI
Year 1 2011
TOTAL
Year 2 2012
Year 3 2013
€55,000 €5,912 €25,000 €2,687
€55,000 €5,912 €25,000 €2,687
€55,000 €5,912 €25,000 €2,687
€88,599
€88,599
€88,599
€2,000 €2,000 €1,800
€2,000 €2,000 €1,800
€2,000 €2,000 €1800
€8,000 €1,000 €20,000
€8,000 €1,000 €20,000
€8,000 €1,000 €20,000
€123,399
€123,399
€123,399
Other costs Rent & Rates Auditor Postage, Telephone & Communications d. Travel e. Insurance f. Website and IT platform a. b. c.
Total Costs
***Specialist health staff i.e. Nurses, Physiotherapists etc. will not be funded under this Scheme.
11
3.2 Please indicate how the funding sought will focus on disadvantage, coal face services and social need Relationship difficulties are at a significant level in Ireland, affecting someone in almost every extended family. Traditionally, Fathers and paternal grandparents have been severely disadvantaged with nowhere to turn to for information and support. In the past volunteers got involved, contributed a lot of energy, and then moved on. Their knowledge, skills and learning was lost. The minimal resources available from statutory bodies to groups supporting Fathers and their children (compared to those supporting women) led to a piecemeal service with little governance and continuity. “The majority view of the psychiatric and paediatric profession is that mothers and fathers are equals as parents, and that a close relationship with both parents is necessary to maximise the child's chances for a healthy and productive life.” 1 The need for the service is constantly proven by the level of numbers of enquiries even when there is minimal finance available to provide a service and to raise awareness of the existence of the service. “The need for improved policy to reduce the present adversarial approach that has resulted in primarily sole maternal custody, limited father involvement and maladjustment of both children and parents is critical. Increased mediation, joint custody, and parent education are supported for this policy.” 2 The US commission on family welfare, also state that; “The study indicates that, on average, a two-parent, intact family is the best arrangement for children, and a shared parenting arrangement is better than a sole custody arrangement, that is, a two-parent family is better even if parents are divorced.” 3 This value for money local / global service which Parental Equality has focused on developing since 2006 with negligible funding is a proven model. As a result of leveraging online and effective communication technologies, there has emerged over the period 2008-2010 a new group of committed volunteers with a median age of 40 years of age, who have come of age comfortable with online information technology as a viable operational tool, whose children are of an age that these volunteers will be involved for the next 10-15 years, with personal experience at the coal face. There is a nexus with those volunteers who have served for a generation with Parental Equality and who have the history, experience, mentor-ship skills etc to guide the emergent talent. The proven model of value for money service that Parental Equality presently provides with the website as the core online digital resource, providing “Always-on” user access, combined with the peer group of country wide volunteers networking online sharing knowledge and developing best practise and linking service users to local contacts and to specialist knowledge volunteers ensures high value for money quality information and sustainable ongoing support potential directly to services while bring free at the point of use.
1
J. Atkinson, Criteria for Deciding Child Custody in the Trial and Appellate Courts, Family Law Quarterly, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, American Bar Association (Spring 1984).
2
Report to the US Commission on Child and Family Welfare, American Psychological Association (June 14, 1995) 3 R Glover and C Steele, Comparing the Effects on the Child of Post-divorce Parenting Arrangements, Journal of Divorce, Vol. 12, No. 2-3, (1989). 12
3.3 Please indicate the need for and expected impact of the funding sought A process of consultation and follow-up discussions was carried out with recent service users & volunteers and analysing reflections from those involved with Parental Equality over the years has helped to identify the following ongoing range of needs of the constituency which Parental Equality serves. ●
Personal Support – regular meetings, follow up one-to-one meetings, assistance with paperwork, negotiation, etc.
●
Searchable and downloadable online information – “Advice on How To”, etc.
●
Archiving of Parental Equality historical documentation, researching the experiences of Fathers & Grandparents of marital and relationship breakdown.
●
Developing the skills, information and experiences of shared parenting models and rolling them out in more accessible formats.
●
Providing information, camaraderie and personal support to help minimise the possibility of Father’s ending up homeless post-separation and to prevent the despair which can lead to contemplation of suicide.
●
Networking with others who have personal experience and who can offer advice.
●
Advocacy at representative level to end discrimination against equal parenting and against Fathers and their families.
●
Increasingly students of social personal and health education (SPHE), social studies, psychology, education, social care, etc. are seeking interviews, focus group meetings and access to Parental Equality archives and library material for research purposes.
If Parental Equality is to strive to respond to its community of interests, then the challenge going forward, is to follow a realisable strategy towards meeting the needs of this constituency, taking account of the actual costs of supplying a quality, sustainable service and the possibilities of securing appropriate funding. Fathers experiencing family breakdown in Ireland typically feel isolated. Parental Equality strives to remove this isolation. This is achieved by collaboration with the other men’s support organisations around the country and through the use of our national network of volunteers. The expected impact of funding will mean Parental Equality can extend its services to even more Fathers throughout the country. Parental Equality is the only national service for men at present. The current Parental Equality website attracted 7,000 unique visitors in 2010. It is logical to believe that on receipt of the requested funding, that the development, maintenance and promotion of a professional website will result in a trebling of traffic by service users by the end of 2011. Parental Equality offers to its service users a sense of community through the online chat forum. Upon receipt of the requested funding it is hoped that the number of volunteer trained facilitators can be doubled by the end of 2011. This will result in building positive paternal parenting role models throughout Ireland. The impact of receipt of the requested funding, will be that the Parental Equality website will continue to facilitate the dissemination of information to Fathers experiencing family breakdown with the resulting benefits and quality of life for families in Ireland. Parental Equality through its national volunteer network is positioned to easily identify issues of national importance for Fathers experiencing family breakdown.
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3.4 Please indicate how this funding will demonstrate Value for Money (VFM) ●
The value for money aspect of this funding can be shown through the following examples based on the last 12 months statistics for the Parental Equality website. A forward projection of these figures to the end of 2011 we believe will result in a threefold increase in website traffic. By moving from 7,000 service users in 2010 to 21,000 service users in 2011, there will be a significant increase in the value for money proposition. A cost analysis based on the service user engagement of our website clearly identifies the low cost and high value to providing such a web based service.
●
The figures for the Parental Equality website for the years 2009 and 2010 both show a consistent visitor rate of 600 – 700 unique service users each month, with the home page and the news page being the most popular pages visited.
●
There are roughly 7,000 unique service users visiting the Parental Equality website on average each year. According to Google, this is a good level of visiting people for a website. Google recommend the use of promotion to increase this number and not to refer to the number of hits (hits basically means nothing, some website servers count a hit as any piece of content which is downloaded, so one person visiting 5 pages with 10 images on each page is counted as 55 hits). Therefore, a more accurate representation according to Google is the standard of unique visits.
•
Current visits
End of yr 1 target
Annual visits
7,000
21,000
Visits per day
19
58
cost per person
€17
€5.67
Above figures are based on funding of €120,000 per annum assisting the number of people per day multiplied by 365 days and then divide this figure into the €120,000 to give a unit cost. Parental Equality believe that the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs investment in the PE Project would be a wise investment and represent value for money as shown in the above table.
14
Origin of unique visitors to Parental Equality website in 2010
source google analtyitics
3.5 Please indicate your level of co-operation/integration/consolidation with similar/allied organisations within the Sector:
The above graphic represents organisations in Ireland that Parental Equality collaborates and liaises with.
15
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
Parental Equality Social Services Centre 15A Clanbrassil Street, Dundalk. Co.Louth. Ireland. PH:-042-9333163
Parental Equality Strategic Plan 2006- ?
Parental Equality â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Shared Parenting Agency
FOREWORD
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
Page no. 2
Parental Equality â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Shared Parenting Agency
CONTENTS Page 4
INTRODUCTION
Page 8
External Context
Page 13
Internal Context
Page 16
Client Group Needs
Page 18
Strategic Activities
Page 30
Resource Implications and consequential options
Page ?
Evaluation and Monitoring
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
Page no. 3
Parental Equality – The Shared Parenting Agency
Page no. 4
Introduction The following is a brief review of Parental Equality since its inception in 1992, and a proposal for future development of the organisation. Parental Equality is a voluntary NGO which was set up in 1992 and has been active in the area of Relationship Breakdown, promoting and providing information and support for Shared Parenting and Joint Custody. PARENTAL EQUALITY MISSION STATEMENT Our mission in Parental Equality is to seek, both through our own activities and through our involvement with the education of our future generation of parents, to play a proactive role in creating a culture of shared family responsibilities, enabling women and men equally, to realise their optimum potential, both in their family lives and careers. In recognition of the UN convention on the rights of the Child, Parental Equality aim to achieve Parity of Esteem for all members of the Family System. In furtherance of this goal, Parental Equality undertake to support, promote and encourage, with due respect for the freedom of the individual, increased participation for men as carers in the family system, and opportunities for women to open up their traditional domain as childcarers. Signed Liam O Gogain (Chairperson PE) January 1996
As our caller base has changed over the years our main enquiries now come from separated and unmarried fathers and from grandparents who are cut off from their grandchildren when their sons separate. Our help-lines have received calls from tens of thousands of people in need of support and information over the last 13 years. PE has been and continues to be acknowledged and recognised as one of the few voluntary NGOs in Ireland which champions Fathers’ Rights to equal treatment as parents and which promotes joint custody as a societal norm. In spite of our clear agenda of equality, the media, statutory bodies and the professions have repeatedly pigeonholed PE into being defined as a “Father’s Rights” group. As far back as 1994, in their report to the EU Conference on the Status of Fathers held in Helsinki, the Irish Government identified Parental Equality as the only group in Ireland advocating and promoting “Father’s Rights”. For six years from 1997-2003 PE rented a head office in central Dublin and ran a FAS CE Scheme. It employed 14 workers and a supervisor at its height. PE also had an office in Dundalk with five CE workers at its peak. Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
Parental Equality – The Shared Parenting Agency
Page no. 5
Due to the harsh fact that fathers rights and men’s health in general had no social policy currency up until very recently, Parental Equality were constantly frustrated in seeking core funding to develop and sustain a high quality service to the tens of thousands of our callers, by the fact that there never seemed to be an appropriate category, nor apparen t l y w a s a n y t h e r e statutory body who would accept responsibility for addressing the valid needs and issues of fathers and their children and grandparents. Parental Equality has struggled for thirteen years since 1992 with miniscule funding, trying to meet the rent out of materials grant from FAS and a few thousand punts of grants every year. The very nature of the group was voluntary and this was set against a national landscape where 80% of workers (Research TCD) within the voluntary sector are paid. Parental Equality effectively had to compete (in a public and media sense), in terms of impacting on social and legal policy and in terms of the quality of service delivery and finances, with a heavily funded professional voluntary sector, who were already dealing with family and parenting issues but who did not take account of, or represent the viewpoints, or needs and issues of fathers. In spite of the severe financial constraints and the high expectation of callers to our help-lines, Parental Equality continued to impact on bringing father’s and grandparent’s issues to the fore and highlighting the injustice in the “In Camera” Family courts. Evidence on this advocacy can be seen in the introduction of Joint Custody as a definite legal option and the rights of grandparents to apply to courts in relation to contact with their grandchildren (Children’s Act 1997) and more recently in the changes to the “In Camera“ rule in the Civil Liability & Courts Act 2004. Parental Equality has made a number of significant submissions to various Oireachtas committees and statutory bodies. PE has made representations to Ministers and delivered presentations at conferences over the last 13 years. The organisation has established, developed and maintained two well-received websites at www.parentalequality.ie and www.operationseahorse.ie
Organisational Development Issues In the mid-1990s local branches of Parental Equality sprung up in various parts of Ireland, including Dundalk, Dublin, Drogheda, Waterford, Mullingar, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Armagh, Boyle, Donegal etc. The overall organisation of PE was managed by a National Committee of some twenty members, representing each local group. This National Committee met monthly in various parts of the country and attempted to steer the organisation towards a sustainable long term model of operation. As is quite common with organisational development in the voluntary sector, the constraints set by negligible funding and the unmanaged, but different, expectations of the various members and groups, created a climate of internal power struggles, differences of opinions and misunderstandings of the group’s vision and strategic goals. This created the potential for an inherently unprofessional and unsustainable process. In spite of these problems and thanks to the selfless and generous efforts of a number of volunteers, participants and callers were given great help (as evidenced by the testimonies thanking PE, which we have received over the years).
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Fundamental problem As the numbers of parents and their extended families who experienced family problems continued to increase (e.g. 40% of births in County Louth are outside of marriage by 2004), the demands on the services offered by Parental Equality (and the evidence of our ability to help callers effectively, belied our lack of resources) became unsustainable. Local groups had emerged, performed for a while and then disappeared as the local drivers and promoters moved on with their lives. Valuable experience was lost to the group and any funding acquired to build capacity was thus rendered ineffective in the long term. None of the groups ever got to a critical mass to draw down mainstream funding. There were constant internal arguments about the ethics of paying those engaged in voluntary work, even though the national trend and common sense clearly indicated the need for professionalisation.
Managing Change Eventually after the millennium, some of the group began to stand back and reflect on where we were going as a group. There were a core group of members who had each given over ten years of voluntary service. These members were passionately committed to leaving a legacy of learning and experience to those younger new mothers, fathers and grandparents. The hope was that by implementing the solutions honed over 13 years through cutting edge experience, a new generation of parents and children could hopefully avoid many of the conflicts and pitfalls experienced by the original group members and thus provide happier, more nurturing environments for future generations of children. This group set about the process of reengineering the group. Following tense and emotional dialogue over a period of about a year some members left the group. Local groups dissolved or members left to join other organisations. The radical restructuring resulted in establishing the group as a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status on a not-for-profit basis, with four directors. This meant for the first time carrying out a comprehensive overhaul of our limited finances, auditing of accounts and clearing up an historical legacy of half-finished financial reports etc. We had to face the harsh reality that we could not afford â&#x201A;Ź20,000 a year rent in a city centre fourth-floor office on the pittance of funding we were receiving. Parental Equality re-located to Dundalk in 2003, where the local Social Services Centre were generous enough to accommodate us for a much smaller rent. PE wound up the Dublin FAS CE Scheme which was a drain on our focus and one which we did not have the finance to resource. Having taken stock of the present reality of limited resources, the ever increasing number of people in Ireland experiencing relationship breakdown and the huge percentage of unmarried fathers, we recognised that the need for Parental Equality was greater than ever before and this need was highly unlikely to disappear. The need exists in every county, in every town and parish throughout Ireland.
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Innovation The group looked to developments in online technologies, the rollout of broadband communication, which would increasingly be familiar to the new generation of young parents. PE focussed our strategy on converging to an online support resource which would be accessible 24/7/365 in all areas of the country. We were receiving calls continually on the national helpline from remote areas such as Clare or Leitrim and also from inner city locations, from highly upset and agitated fathers and grandparents in the throes of custody/ access disputes. The potential existed for untrained Parental Equality members giving ill-considered responses which could exacerbate the problems rather than reduce family stress. It was, and remains essential for PE, to analyse itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strengths and weaknesses. In the areas of strengths which we undoubtedly have, it behoves us to capture the learning and experience within the group and to research and implement methodologies for rolling out such insights as a quality process of information and support.
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External Context Since Parental Equality was founded in 1992 there have been enormous changes worldwide and in Irish Society. This external context fundamentally determines the environment within which Parental Equality must realistically, honestly and strategically set out its future plans and prospects. A Snapshot - Back then (1992) and Now:Ireland had just about acknowledged Lone Parenthood by introducing Lone Parents welfare. Now the annual cost to the exchequer is approx. €1Bn. Births outside of marriage were still effectively “below the radar”. Now it’s a country wide average of 40% with Dundalk on the high side. Ireland had no “Equality” legislation or official awareness of same. We now have a Minister for Equality, an Equality Authority, Equality Audits and Political Correctness. However the concept of implementing Equality issues is so genderised that the term “EQUALITY” now in essence is a mandate for “Women’s Rights”. The blindness of women’s needs in previous Pre-Equality eras has been replaced by a global and cultural acceptance of supporting women while discriminating against men and neglecting their welfare. There was effectively no internet, PCs were only for the few and they were slow, snail mail, and long waiting lists for installing a telephone landline were common. It was a pre-Sky media world. Now we have the world wide web, with 24/7/365 online fora, discussion boards, blogs, online access to downloadable information, legislation, revenue and advice. The norm is for everyone, including our children to have mobile phones. SKY, Freeview Digital TV reception and multitudinous channels are the staple diet in homes. Women were still to a large degree working in the home. Single incomes could support families. Childcare was informal. Our road system was relatively poor. The term “Commuter” was reserved for foreign cities. Now fathers and mothers are both under pressure to go out to work, in order to feed a never ending spiral of housing costs. Childcare is now a central election issue. The concept of dragging children out of bed early every morning and leaving them until early evening into a pasteurised, quality assured “Standardised” and expensive National Childcare Network is now Social and Political Policy. Commuter belts are the norm. Vast anonymous private estates are effectively empty all day while weekend or late night visit to the Shopping Malls has become the “new religion” Personal problem’s, therapy, suicide, homelessness, dysfunctionality, low college retention rates and behavioural problems in schools were unfamiliar terms or marginal issues. Now Therapy, social services, is a regular feature of the increasingly large level of relationship breakdown. The longer-term effect of custody battles on children is beginning to reap second generation effects. “Fatherless” children and the societal effect is being debated in the media. Suicide is on the increase and is predominantly a young male issue. Homelessness, while couched as gender neutral invariably means “homeless men” as it is culturally accepted that when relationships break Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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down that fathers end up out of the family home. The lack of male teachers and the underperformance of boys now requires Ministerial intervention. Ireland was Catholic. Divorce was a foreign concept. Now we have had a decade of divorce. One can even use Brussels 2 and get a legal divorce abroad, in order to speed up the process. Marriage is now a temporary contract with the possibility of an individual experiencing a number of marriages in one’s lifetime. Family law was a relatively small element of a solicitor’s work. Many country solicitors stayed away from such sensitive matters. Now it’s big business. We are even going to have solicitors representing children, as an increasing percentage of family resources are to be consumed in litigation around relationship breakdown. Voluntary work was organic, spontaneous, informal, communal, sometimes transient in nature. Doing voluntary work still had a soulful and semi-religious value. Abuses by individuals with power over vulnerable people were largely unknown at the time. Now the Professionalisation of voluntary work is almost complete, with research indicating more than 80% of voluntary work being paid for. Organisations like the St. Vincent de Paul this year distributed some €34 million. Voluntary organisations are now mini corporations, largely occupied with corporate governance, training for directors, staff required to gain third level qualifications, Garda clearance for working around children, marketing and advertising consultants, audited accounts, professional video presentations, costly websites and services, expensive seminars, conferences and publicity campaigns. The gap between the exchequer funded, politically acceptable “voluntary” sector and the unfunded, marginalised support groups continues to grow. There was a culture of secrecy in terms of access to information about all elements of administration within the state. Officials acted on the “need to know” principle. They could operate without fear of recrimination or exposure. Delaying enquiries with endless paper trails denied justice to many. Now we have the Freedom of Information. For a short few years around the end of the millennium, there was a glimpse of openness when transparency was a possibility, where the individual citizen and the media could probe actions and policies and expose misconduct. However the updated Freedom of Information act reigned in much of the openness by placing inhibitive costs for those seeking information and appealing negative decisions. There was no such term as “JOINT CUSTODY”. It was an accepted principle that, post-separation, women get the children and that a women had a right to be maintained “in the manner to which she had become accustomed”. Unmarried fathers had to face the trauma of proving their suitability as a parent to a court, when seeking to become guardians of their own children (even those in functional long-term agreeable relationships). Grandparents had no legal right to establish or maintain relationships with their grandchildren where relationships broke down. Now the Children’s Act 1997 established the option for judges to award Joint custody and for Grandparents to apply to court “for the right to apply” for contact with the ir grandchildren. Unmarried father’s can, subject to the agreement of their child’s mother, obtain guardianship by filling out and lodging a statutory form, without the trauma of a court hearing. However, now that the term “Joint Custody” has been established the control aspect of childcare has morphed into the concept of “Primary” care (normally to the mother) and thus further embedding friction and hierarchy into separation conflicts. Ireland was generally mono-cultural, and in fact the emigration of our young graduates was the dominant demographic feature at that time. International travel Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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was expensive. Education was generally segregated between boys and girls. Racism was understood in terms of what happened in other continents. Now we have large ethnic communities establishing themselves in Ireland. The expansion of the EU brings in thousands of new workers from Eastern Europe. Ireland’s own previous emigrants have returned in numbers having had international experience. We are now a global community with many cultures, diverse values and cultures. Relationship breakdown occurs among all ethnic groups and they have different expectations of post-separation scenarios. International and cross-cultural kidnapping of children in child custody disputes is more common. Low cost air travel facilitates much more fluid movement.
The present Landscape - Ireland 2005
Relationship difficulties within families, marital breakdown and the separation of unmarried parents have a significant and continually increasing impact across the whole spectrum of the Irish socio-economic reality.
The consequences of child custody, access and maintenance conflicts, which are the fallout of the relationship breakdown between the parents, is increasingly being recorded, acknowledged, measured and linked to negative socio-economic indicators.
These indicators include an increase in male suicide, poor educational and health outcomes for children of separated couples, an increase in societal stress levels and worsening of levels of mental health and sense of well-being
There are increasing levels of interpersonal domestic violence by both women and men, increases in abusive of alcohol and other addictive substances and a detrimental impact on employee effectiveness in the workplace.
Social workers and childcare professionals are being overburdened with increasing demands on their services; there is a spiralling increase in the number of family law cases appearing before the Courts.
This impacts on the workload and cost to the tax payer of maintaining the Court system, and wastes ever-increasing sums of money, which has been hard-earned by both mothers and fathers, monies that should be spent on rearing and developing their children (but which gets diverted into paying the costly legal bills which follow from the adversarial legal process).
State funded research and statistics continue to show that as a result of and/or in spite of the raft of family law legislation developed over the last quarter of a century in Ireland, the cost of relationship breakdown, both in human and economic terms, to Irish society continues to rise.
There is no indication whatsoever of either a levelling off of these costs or of a reversal in the trends of relationship breakdown.
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Problem (emergent from/or in spite of) present Irish Family Policy
The level of births outside of marriage now exceeds one in three births. Recently published research indicates that over 20% of recently married “Celtic Tiger” couples have already experienced relationship breakdown.
Social Welfare LP payments spiral towards €1 Billion (including rent allowance), 80,000 brides of the taxpayer, less than 1,800 fathers contributing to the state. (Sunday times Dec 5th 2004) and an emotive media issue during 2005.
It is obvious that legislation and the social and economic policies implemented over the last quarter of a century in Ireland have, at best, failed to curb the rising levels of relationship breakdown and the consequence of damage to the parents, children, extended families and community as a whole.
It could be argued that at worst, such policies have in fact spawned and propagated the relationship breakdown and domestic violence industry.
The traditional and stereotypical structures that have been put in place to deal with relationship breakdown and child custody issues are founded on an outdated and illogical belief system:
that mothers are primarily dependent on men, victims rather than coperpetrators of domestic violence, primary and more competent child carers than fathers, and invariably innocent victims in the event of a relationship breakdown.
as a corollary, fathers in relationship breakdown are presumed to be primarily guilty of misbehaviour, expected to be primary and continuing bread winners and providers for the whole family costs even post separation.
Fathers are expected to leave or be removed from the family home and to provide secondary accommodation for themselves while continuing to pay off the mortgage on the family home, pay maintenance to the children’s mother while also provide for the children in the time that they have access to them.
Custody of children has traditionally been granted to only one parent, creating a hierarchy of supremacy and subordination and instilling fundamental parental inequality.
Social Welfare rules reject Joint Custody and force parents to nominate a “Primary” parent, thus establishing discrimination against the “secondary” parent.
Following the introduction of the 1989 Judicial Separation Act the normal expected outcome of Family Law cases has been that of custody and family home to the mother.
A father and his children get limited access to each other (effectively depended on the mother’s cooperation, with practically no court enforcement by a toothless legal system in the event of frustrated access by the mother to the father).
Mothers have ingested the presumption of sole custody, maintenance and the right to protection and barring orders at their whim, as part of their fundamental expectations in a relationship breakdown.
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At the same time the expectation of fathers has continually been eroded and attenuated both in terms of typical legal advice and also of anecdotal evidence among their peers.
Among fathers the expectation is, at best, to have partial access to their children, to continue to pay for two homes and face an increasing demand to produce finance, while facing the ever-present fear of being dragged back into court for applications of increasing maintenance.
This bleak model for dealing with relationship breakdown by failing to address the needs of all elements of the family system promotes unrealistic and unjust expectations amongst women and presents men with a rather depressing and futile future.
Example of INCREASING trends in Ireland
Rate of Divorce Marriage/Relationship breakdown.
Rate of Births outside Marriage Approx. 40%
Draw on Exchequer through massive Lone Parent Welfare payments.
Rate of Suicide by Males.
Number of Family Law cases in court.
Level of Frustration of non-custodial fathers.
Levels of violence/crime involving young males and females.
Overburdening of women – parenting alone.
Isolation of fathers – denied meaningful involvement in raising their children.
Children with no male role models at home or in school.
Percentage of child’s life spent in creches.
Loss of grandparent and extended family relationship with grandchildren in divorce.
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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Internal Context Over the last few years Parental Equality’s constituency has changed. The main thrust of enquiries now come from:
Unmarried and separated fathers.
Paternal Grandparents.
Women who are partners/second wives/ mothers/sisters/friends of fathers who are experiencing child access/custody problems.
One of the reasons that mothers cite for not seeing PE as a suitable resource is that operating Joint Custody may mean them “losing Primacy” as the welfare system actively penalises joint custodians. Mothers also have heavily funded women’s groups there as a support network for them. In reality, “lone parent” information and support groups effectively operate from a women’s perspective and have few, if any, policies or practices in place which have been legitimately designed and operated by fathers, for fathers. Due to the stress of high-paced lifestyles and pressures of maintenance payments, prohibitive legal costs with poor expectation of outcome, many fathers who contact PE have little energy or motivation, to commit to and to stay with, the onerous journey towards seeking equal treatment and justice. Young men have little belief that their views and their needs will be listened to or respected. The welfare culture in practice actually encourages them to remain invisible officially, although they are participating fathers, while they continue to pay cash under the table for doled-out access. Those Volunteers and members who have long years of invaluable experience in advising and supporting these issues are now, in general, entering their fifties. To a large degree their own children are reared, or at least out of the fray of custody/access conflict. Most of these fathers have suffered severe financial losses over the last decade, having invested huge amounts of time, energy and their hard-earned money taking on the legal/welfare/educational/health systems, seeking equal treatment for fathers as that given to mothers. These demands have also occurred during what is traditionally seen as the period in one’s working life when one makes, or fails to make, significant progress in one’s career. At this point these volunteers are both jaded and also looking at developing other aspects of their lives as their children mature and leave home. Unfortunately this loss to Parental Equality of this talent and invaluable experience comes at a time when the whole concept of voluntarism has been fundamentally and irrevocably changed. Organisations, who appear to be voluntary and who once were totally operated on unpaid effort are now, substantively funded businesses. One only has to look at the publicity campaigns, the promotional material, the endless research publications, conferences etc output by these organisations to appreciate the large sums of money necessary to maintain such structures. Those employees within the public service/ health services/ combat poverty agency/partnerships etc who are charged with distributing supportive finance to the voluntary sector understandably find it easier to interact with similarly remunerated Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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professionals working for voluntary groups. A glaring example is to consider when meetings/Seminars are run to evaluate, consult with and get feedback from the voluntary sector. While the vast proportion of unpaid volunteers are working to earn their living during normal business hours (where men are concerned this is by definition almost 100%) it is the norm to hold the above mentioned sessions during the working day, thus ensuring that the only possibility of competent, continuous representation by a voluntary group in a consultation process, is to have the resource to pay suitably qualified professionally skilled personnel to participate in these events on behalf of the group. Over the last number of years the expectation by those opinion formers, policy makers, legislators etc of receiving slick, high quality, professionally designed, prepared and delivered submissions, applications etc has meant that if a voluntary body does not have the resources to pay for these quality services then the effectiveness of their work and the impact and contribution of their viewpoint is measurably diminished. Parental Equality have been fortunate over the years to have talented contributions on a number of fronts, including, IT, web design, meeting facilitation, legal and technical procedures, personal support etc, with many individuals donating their professional talents towards the development of the organisation. A measure of the quality of this input is that on any given occasion, the articulation of the Parental Equality position, on radio and television, in newspaper articles, in conference/seminar presentation etc has been of high calibre and measures up well to other viewpoints on behalf of organisations with annual budgets that are dimensionally larger than the resources available to Parental Equality. On top of the massive disparity between the heavily funded women’s groups and the pathetically low funds for father’s representation, there is the broad societal illusion that if a group operates a helpline and support service in this arena then the presumption is that the group must be funded. The “State funded” mentality of the public’s expectation of support groups, and the widespread belief that one wouldn’t be putting in such effort without remuneration, means that it’s even less likely in future that people will contribute their time, expertise and energy, to the level of quality and professionalisation that is required, without them being paid. With regard to the actual ongoing resource available to Parental Equality the present reality is quite stark. Only as a result of intense pressure on the NEHB to provide €7000 in 2005 have we been able to maintain the office facility in the Dundalk Social Services Centre. This office is a core requirement for enabling the organisation to continue in operation, for fielding calls to the helpline, handling correspondence, and organising weekly meetings. The only paid staff Parental Equality have available going into 2006 is a Men’s Health and Welfare officer (who has a literacy disability and is in the final year of a Job Initiative contract with FAS) and a male part-time FAS CE worker (the relevance of his gender is that, unlike many other CE workers, as a divorced man with no children he is on the single pay rate with no lone parent’s payment to supplement this small income). Whilst both of these employees are doing wonderful work in maintaining support to callers and members, they have limited skill sets, little managerial or supervisory support and scarce resources. It is effectively unsustainable to expect two such individuals to continue to respond to the ever increasing demands and complex situations of those parents who contact Parental Equality. Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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The PE website at www.parentalequality.ie is on its fourth generation design. In order to survive and be responsive and relevant to an increasingly competent, demanding and growing web community, the whole web philosophy requires a fundamental rethink and redesign. As an example of the complete poverty of thinking within funding agencies, Parental Equality, having sought a modest €10,000 for web redevelopment and CD information resource design/production from the Northern Area Health Board, recently received a measly €1000 grant for this purpose.
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Client Group Needs. A process of consultation and follow-up discussions was carried out with recent callers/members and analysing reflections from those involved with PE over the years has helped to identify the following ongoing range of needs of the constituency which Parental Equality serves.
Personal Support – regular meetings, follow up on one to one basis, assistance with paperwork, negotiation etc.
Searchable/downloadable online information – Advice on How To… etc.
Archiving of PE Historical documentation, researching the experiences of fathers/grandparents of separation.
Developing the skills, information and experiences of shared parenting models and rolling them out in more accessible formats.
Providing information, camaraderie and personal support to help minimise the possibility of father’s ending up homeless post-separation and to prevent the despair which can lead to contemplation of suicide.
Networking with others who have personal experience and who can offer advice.
Advocacy at representative level to end discrimination against equal parenting and against father’s and their families.
Increasingly Students of SPHE, Social Studies, Psychology, Education, Social Care etc are seeking interviews, focus group meetings and access to PE archives and library material for research purposes.
A sample of FAQ’s emerging from analysis of recent enquiries can be seen below:Unmarried Dad’s FAQs 1)
My girlfriend has told me she is pregnant. How do I know if she really is, because this was unplanned? Should I tell my family and how will I do so? Should I try and handle everything on my own to begin with and tell no one? Who can support me and how much help can I expect to get? What do I need to do to get help? What does this help cost? Can I get financial, legal and rights advice? Where and how much does it cost?
2)
Because my ex-partner said during the pregnancy that I wasn’t the dad and she told me she slept with another man, which she told me later she lied about; I would like to know how I go about getting a paternity test done? (I'm afraid also that when I tell her I want this she is going to go mad and not let me see the baby...)
3)
My parents have told me to make sure my name goes on my child’s birth cert. How will I get that done and will that make me a guardian?
4)
I have recently split up with my partner and she has insisted that I move out of the house. Already she is refusing to let me see our child except when it suits her. What should I do?
5)
When I try to discuss things about our child with my ex we end up arguing and shouting and then she prevents me seeing my child. I would like to be able to negotiate issues about our child without the hassle. Are there any places I can get help?
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6)
I want to provide my fair share for my child’s upbringing. His mother is demanding I pay her maintenance before I see him. How much should I pay? What is fair? How should I pay it? Can she make my access conditional on me paying her money?
7)
My ex says I have to go to court to see my child. Do I need a solicitor? Where do I go? How much does it cost? When can I get a hearing?
8)
What’s the difference between custody and guardianship? I’m an unmarried father. Can I get Joint Custody of my child?
9)
I don’t want to be just a MacDonald’s Dad. I have short periods of access every week. What things can I do with my child? How can I feed her in a healthy way?
10) Can I take my child on holidays abroad? How do I get passport facilities and do I need the agreement of a court?
Grandparent’s FAQs 1)
Our son is in a panic. This girl has told him she is pregnant. We want to do the right thing if this is our grandchild. What steps should we take?
2)
Our son is separated and we are being cut off from our grandchildren? We don’t want to create trouble but what can we do?
3)
Can grandparents get help from social workers, or health services to see our grandchildren if the child’s mother is preventing us having contact with our grandchild?
4)
Can we accompany our son in the court to support him and to explain our extended family’s involvement in our grandchildren lives?
5)
Have grandparents any legal right to see their grandchildren if their son’s relationship breaks up? If so, do we need a solicitor and how do we get one?
6)
Our son is an unmarried father? Is it important for him to have guardianship and are we legally the grandparents of the child?
7)
We have looked after our grandchildren when our son and his wife were busy working. Now they have separated, their mother no longer wants the children to visit us. Can we get some regular contact with our grandchildren?
8)
Our son is separated. If we, the grandparent die and we make a will to leave money or sign over land to our grandchildren can their mother lay her hands on it?
9)
Our grandchild visits us when her father has access. Recently, she fell when in our house. Her mother is refusing to allow her to visit us in future? Can she do this and what steps can we take to prevent false accusations?
10) Our grandchildren’s Confirmation and First communion is coming up soon. As grandparents we would like to go to the ceremony but because our son does not have custody we don’t know whether we have any right to attend. What can we do?
If it is to strive to respond to its community of interests, then the challenge for Parental Equality, going forward, is to follow a realisable strategy towards meeting the needs of this constituency, taking account of the actual costs of supplying a quality, sustainable service and the possibilities of securing appropriate funding.
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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Strategic Activities A process of mapping with internal focus groups has identified the following range of strategic activities that are necessary to sustain and develop, in order to meet the defined need of the client group who turn to Parental Equality for information and support. 1. Support meetings. a. Deliver facilitated weekly support meetings in range of local areas. b. Developing and facilitating networking between callers, connecting individuals in common geographic areas and having common situations. c. Maintaining database of contacts and updating contacts on group developments. d. Dealing with written/email enquiries/ research student requests for information. e. Sending Out information brochures, seeking information for callers and arranging meetings for them. f.
Inviting, scheduling and making arrangement for local politicians, health board representatives etc to attend group meetings.
g. Outreach by men's health and Welfare Officer following up weekly meetings. h. Providing tea/refreshments at meetings. i.
Managing Local/cross-border/international relationships, inter-racial, crosscultural/ethnic /religious family breakdown issues.
2. Administration a. Directors meetings, travel, planning agendas, recording action plan, following up activities, coordination of activities and producing reports. b. Ongoing Directing/management of office activity, supplying materials , setting work plans, supervising staff, dealing with FAS. c. Maintenance of hardware/ software group facilities, communication, web, equipment, data storage and backup, filing, archiving. 3. Finance. a. Scoping grant possibilities. b. Preparing Grant applications. c. Providing application support material; Following up funding application Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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outcomes, appealing rejections. d. Keeping accounts, payment of bills, fulfilling statutory obligations as a company, dealing with auditors, office administration, preparing and filing activity and financial reports. Managing Bank accounts 4. Information/dissemination a. Checking details of legislation, analysing new acts, rules, preparing advice lists, collecting relevant forms, communicating and discussing with government departments, Health officials, education services etc. 5. Research a. Carrying out research, including Questionnaires and collating individual's stories. b. Recording interviews with individuals and groups. c. Meeting with researchers, connecting them with members, arranging focus groups for researchers and media research. d. Trawling the papers and media for ongoing coverage of issues of interest. Collecting, downloading, analysing, collating, filing, and distributing articles and programmes among the group members. 6. Policy Submissions a. Prepare and deliver submissions on Family law, Constitutional reform, Social Policy, Education, Social Welfare, Justice and Equality, Health and Childcare etc. b. Participate in consultative processes, attend meetings circulate discussion documents to members of PE. 7. Shared Parenting Program a. Develop best Practice on shared parenting. b. Follow up with participants and their ongoing issues. c. Developing Shared Parenting models/calendars and designing software models. d. Repurposing Shared parenting program for distance and online learning modes. e. Roll out and further develop Shared Parenting Program 8. Seminars Conferences a. Organising fathers' workshops, Seminars on Family law etc. Focus groups to prepare submissions. Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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b. Conference on Status of fathers. 9. Advocacy/representation. a. Working with individuals/cou p l e s o n a o n e -to-o n e b a s i s t o negotiate/dissolve/resolve access/custody/maintenance issues. b. Accompanying individuals to courts, assessments, court offices, interacting with solicitors, court staff, social workers, schools etc. c. Meetings with politicians/ legislators/ administrators/ opinion formers to raise Joint Custody and equality issues. d. Preparing/issuing Press releases/ engaging in radio and TV programmes, writing articles and letters to newspapers, highlighting needs of our members on equality and shared parenting issues. e. Participating in Seminars /conferences/meetings on Family Law, parenting, equality, men's health, homelessness, suicide, domestic violence, social partnership etc. f.
Working with individuals to build up their self-esteem, assist them in planning a strategy and articulating their issues.
g. Seeking representative positions on Local and National bodies embracing areas of interest to PE. h. Seeking and upskilling competent PE representatives, to deal with media, to be available to attend committees, often during normal work hours and involving travel. 10. Publications. a. Distributing Book "Things for Dads to do with Kids". b. Publishing CD/DVD on submissions and advice/FAQs. c. Publishing Seminar/ Research reports (e.g "In Camera", "Gender Equals"). d. Preparing Information leaflets, flyers and promotional material. 11. Internet. a. Maintaining and developing an online environment; re-designing the web presence to encompass new streaming technologies and online group interaction, locally, nationally and internationally. b. Radical overhaul of web design to move towards dynamic content with searchable material and legacy provision for research and historical purposes.
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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Resource Implications and consequential options The workspace which emerges from the Section on Strategic Activities is quite extensive and it is eminently clear that such work cannot be effected to a sustainable and quality level without commensurate funding. By definition of the Social Benefit of this process, this funding must come from the exchequer. The under-funding of resources for Fathers, grandparents and their families is at such an insignificant level compared to the resources for mothers that substantive injection of initial support is needed to enable father’s groups to join the social policy discussion at an equitable level. As has been the case Parental Equality since it’s formation, the group has no core funding. The experience to date, in spite of countless comprehensive submissions, numerous meetings with Ministers, Health Board, Welfare, Justice and Education officials is that Men’s issues and Father’s rights are not within the golden circle of political correctness. The valid and provable challenges to anti-father discrimination and dismissive treatment of men’s needs have been wrongly interpreted as being the rants of angry men. All this while the societal problems, described in earlier sections arising from the failure to engage with men, from men’s own perspective, as equal parents, continue to escalate and become an increasing burden on the taxpayer. Having put PE on a formal footing by forming a Limited Company with audited accounts and all the governance demands which this entails, in order to facilitate the funding agencies, PE is still being granted miniscule sums of €1,000 by funders who then seek audited accounts from PE, when the annual audit charges on small turnover alone are running at €3,600. Coming to the end of 2005 the funding potential is as bleak as ever. When one combines this with reality that long term volunteers are unwilling to continue to carry the load of providing services which in fact is the direct responsibility of the statutory services towards it’s citizens, this strategic plan must look at the various alternatives now facing Parental Equality. There are three distinct scenarios which emerge. This present Strategic Plan must incorporate the possibility of any of these outcomes emerging, depending on the funding response over the next year. The outcomes range from total closure with the end of any support from Parental Equality for the continuous stream of enquiries (often passed on by the same statutory bodies who have failed, to date, to give PE adequate support funding to provide a service), to a structured sustainable growth model which delivers a measurable return on investment. Future PE Options:1. Total Closure. 2. Sustainable Growth Model 3. Minimal resource Online Legacy model
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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Total Closure.
This model is the least desirable option, both for the present group of people who are using PE as a support resource and whose children are young and still embroiled in separation conflict and also for those volunteers who have dedicated up to 13 years of their lives experiencing the hurt and isolation of separation compounded by discrimination, who have benefited from the existence, friendship, support, advice and information provided by PE and who have fed back their experiential wisdom to help others coming through. Closing down would involve a large amount of work, time and cost in managing a comprehensive closure, resolving finances, disposing of records, informing users of PE services of the closure etc. As has been experienced where local PE groups have dissolved there will be a major information/support gap, which is likely to leave more separated fathers and grandparents feeling even more isolated and hopeless. It is estimated that a managed closure would take up to the middle of 2006.
2.
Sustainable Growth Model
This model is based on a Development of Local/ Global support group Model which has been successfully piloted in Dundalk over the last two years Traditional Problems in setting up and sustaining a viable local group During each of the last number of years, one or two talented and committed fathers and grandparents have emerged at random from various parts of the country. As a result of personal experience and the help they received from Parental Equality, they often want to give something back and they realise the distance they have had to travel, in order to get information and support. They then decide to set up a similar process in their own area. However, they are inevitably stymied and overwhelmed by trying to do everything with little initial local support. They get bogged down, as Parental Equality has done in earlier years, in trying to fill in forms, getting bank accounts set up, finding premises to meet and getting publicity etc. They are so stretched that they can hardly deliver a quality and sustainable information and support service. The lived experience has been, that after a while, they become disillusioned and give up, or else become diverted from their core objectives by being pulled simultaneously in too many different directions. Furthermore, the activity of advocating and highlighting menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights and fatherhood issues occupies the lonely, isolated, periphery of the voluntary sector. Pilot project in Co.Louth-2004/5 Having downsized Parental Equality and totally restructured the organisation in 2002 the new entity focused primarily on developing a locally-based model in Dundalk and the County Louth area, over the period 2004/5. The emphasis was on creating local awareness through concentrating on working initially with small numbers of members. The model was based on participants, who came along to meetings, doing things for Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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themselves from day one, rather than letting them just get stuck in an endless loop, as victims. They were given simple, clear, manageable tasks, and encouraged to map out a strategy and to set objectives for addressing their own problems. In parallel with individual work, they participated in the cyclical presentation of the PE Shared Parenting Programme and discussions, using a range of media material from the Parental Equality Library and websites. This process enables those who are willing to be proactive in improving their situations to make measurable progress. Local/Global support group concept The shortcoming of a local group approach is its isolation and lack of resources, particularly at start-up. The shortcoming of a global online approach is that while useful information is gleaned there is no empathetic or personal contact. This proposal is “Both/And rather than “Either/Or”. They co-exist and feed into and out of each other. It supports independent and interdependent development. Global Element The core idea is to provide an online environment with software/disc-based information support packs which are dynamically updated through content management. This provides for quality control of universally available information and an optimisation of the energies and experience within the group. The plan here is to utilise the head office of Parental Equality as a base (it has a lower cost base than in Dublin) and to develop and update new information and universally applicable material for the wider group on a structured and efficient basis. This office would be broadband equipped with suitable computers, IT and trained staff who act as a hub/link to local groups. Local element. The Local group element is to have a locally based promoter, facilitator, convener, organiser in a local area (the objective is for organic growth of new areas as suitable committed facilitators emerge). This local facilitator (the concept here is of the “Timire” as would have been engaged by Conradh na Gaeilge to promote the language in different areas) will tap into the central information resource and focus on developing the tried and tested local group model in his own area.
Results, feedback and evaluation of Pilot project. The evidence to date supports the approach taken. The learning gleaned from the previous thirteen years of PE meetings and activities has been harnessed to make the group more productive and more beneficial to the members. The camaraderie extends to a network of friendships and support outside of the group itself. As predicted, in a local community, word of mouth is most effective in spreading awareness of the groups’ activities and the numbers have grown over the last year in an organic and sustainable way. There is a greater sense with this model for people who come in to continue to give their support even when their own personal trauma has been addressed. The other vital element has been the engagement by the number of young single fathers, whose personal confidence and self esteem has measurably improved with their involvement in the group. Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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The group then began inviting health board officials, politicians and opinion formers to visit and listen first hand to the experiences of grandparents, fathers and their children. This further increased the sense of validation of the members of the group and greatly informed legislators and decision/policy makers. The feedback from the members to these policy makers provides them with real insight into the actual needs and issues on the ground. Having discussed this process with visitors to our group from various parts of the country and with helpline callers, we are convinced that this same model can be replicated in other locally based groups throughout Ireland. The pilot group in Dundalk have successfully trialled and used problem solving techniques, mediation skills and web-based learning and communication
Benefits of Parental Equality model: The Vision of the Global/Local model proposed by Parental Equality addresses the shortcomings of the committed interested local start up group in a number of ways. Firstly, the core global online information eases the burden on the local facilitator in terms of content and access to data and support information. Typically a young father in an area will gain experience through the Core Group in Dundalk. He will then seek funding for both equipment and training facilities to start up in his local area. He will get training in a range of areas including group organisation, legal issues, and the IT skills specific to the group’s operations. Essentially the local Timire will be equipped with a mobile laptop, data projector, voice recorder and connected to broadband. He will be in constant communication using VOIP technology with the other group facilitators and head office (This communication process has been successfully trialed) The objective for Parental Equality is to roll out the proven local model which has been successfully trialed in Dundalk to a small number of other areas in Ireland. We have sought out individuals who have been prepared to invest their time researching what PE are trying to achieve and are willing to commit to developing the process as set out. Initially the plan is to set up four new groups in the following areas:
Carlow.
Swords/Fingal.
Dublin North Central.
Wicklow.
In Swords/Fingal, Dublin North Central and Wicklow the relevant promoters are three fathers who have been at the coal face of supporting fathers for ten years and who have been central to reshaping Parental Equality’s thinking over the last few years. They are based locally in their respective areas and are well qualified to ensure the smooth success of these new groups. Their mandate is to specifically coach new leaders and build capacity in the new groups. The other new group planned is in Carlow and involves working with a new vibrant and enthusiastic young father (see case study below). A core aspect of sustaining this rollout is for the further development of the Dundalk group, in terms of building capacity for leadership among local young fathers and Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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grandparents and for strengthening the Dundalk group’s capacity to provide support and material for the other groups, by upgrading the office equipment and member skill-sets. Case Study An example of this process is one of the facilitators who is making an application for grant aid to set up Parental Equality in Carlow. He is a young 28 year old single father from Co, Carlow. As a result of his own personal experience he turned to local politicians to seek information about possible support. His local Senator put him in contact with Parental Equality in Dundalk (PE constantly brief TDs and Senators with information updates and public representatives increasingly refer fathers and grandfathers to PE). This young father rang the helpline and spoke to our local Men’s Health and welfare officer who focuses on outreach work. As a result he traveled the long journey to Dundalk on a number of occasions, where he experienced at first hand the camaraderie and practical support that our local group provides. He was annoyed that no such support exists locally for fathers and families like his in Carlow, so he determined to set up a local group himself. He had often had informal conversations with other single fathers in his area, but the realistic opportunity to set up a viable group was not readily obvious or accessible to him. After considering the Global/Local Parental Equality model this young father was very keen to use this mechanism for setting up in Carlow. He feels this is the most likely way to be successful as he will be working along with more experienced members in PE Head Office, which can support the vital start up period. (end) Parental Equality have thirteen years of extremely valuable experience to offer the local communities in Ireland, particularly with fathers’ and grandparents’ issues. As a voluntary group PE has gone through a range of development cycles and the vision now is to pass on the learned experience to a new generation of parents. PE has reflected on it’s activities and achievements, designed changes and implemented and tested a pilot process for viability and sustainability. Developing three new groups with experienced local members and one new fresh member in Carlow is quite achievable. It requires an open-minded and innovative reception by the funding providers to our proposal. The major selling points are that it facilitates the passage of learned wisdom and legacy and that it provides for a cost effective sustainable usage of taxpayers monies in funding this voluntary process. Organisation Structure and costing. This organisation detail sets out the structure required for PE over the 18 month period to mid 2007. It provides for delivery of a quality service to its client group within the North Eastern catchment area and to develop a best practice model which can be replicated in other areas throughout Ireland. The structure is based fundamentally in line with the government’s policy of moving towards e-government by providing information, support, training (both self-managed and directed), and a sense of community to the public. This structure is coherent, cohesive and sustainable and cost effective.
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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Proposed Initial Group Operating structure Board of ParentalEquality.ie (Voluntary)
Project Manager
Administration manager
Receptionist/Typist/Researcher/Cl erical Officer
Web/ICT Manager
Men’s Outreach Officer Health/Family issues/Facilitator
Costing (for initial 12 months): Salaries (€) 60,000 60,000
Expenses/Training 10,000 5,000
40,000 30,000
2,000 0
30,000
8,000
Project Manager Web/ICT Manager Administration Manager Clerical officer Men's Outreach Officer Office Rental/overheads Computer/IT equipment Web/ Communication Sub total
10,000 10,000 250,000
Total (€)
275,000
10,000
25,000
This Option is markedly different than any structure operated by PE in the past. For the first time, the group is not lying to itself and it’s volunteers about the stark reality of the true cost of providing a proper service. For years in order to find the motivation to keep going, PE has hedge-hopped along, “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, Constantly juggling scarce funds just to keep going. The figure of €275,000 as an annual cost is the minimum requirement to establish a sustainable process. This figure would enable the transition from the past reality of “necessitated voluntary amateurism” towards a professional quality support facility. It would enable the stabilisation and collation of Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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the archive of knowledge and experience which would otherwise not be available to inform other separating families in future. Putting the organisation on a structured footing would then facilitate the expansion on a planned and sustainable basis to other areas of the country.
3. Minimal resource-Online-Legacy model When Parental Equality met with Minister Seamus Brennan in December 2004, the Minister generously offered to do whatever was necessary to bring about equal treatment. PE presented to him with the bones and cost implications of the above proposal. PE pointed out to the Minister that in terms of the exchequer bill of almost €1 billion of Lone Parents payments, the vast majority of which stems from nonpaying fathers, that such a minor investment in the PE proposal was a sure-fire investment in engaging fathers actively in raising and supporting their own children. Sadly, though not unexpectedly, the Minister’s response was the usual one of avoidance of responsibility, of seeking to dilute ownership for decision making, by him claiming that this proposal needed a cross-departmental approach and a multi-agency funding solution. This un-creative response suggested that the funding was unlikely to emerge in the short term. It may be too cynical to believe that the foreseeable future in terms of funding will be a repeat of the past 13 years experience for PE. However unless there is a sea change among the funding agencies by acknowledging the equality of father’s rights for support, representation and advocacy along with proactive leadership from government in terms of ending discrimination against fathers, then the sustainable model described above will remain a valid but untried proposal. The first alternative of just closing down and leaving a wasteland of more isolated fathers with one less support group to contact, is a better option than to continue to struggle against impossible odds to maintain our previous services. However, the core of Parental Equality supporters would feel that they had failed to at least leave a legacy for some future group, who might emerge, with renewed energy to take up again the struggle for equality. For many fathers and grandparents who found Parental Equality to be a valued oasis in the wilderness of post-separation discrimination, the memory that at least there was someone to talk to in PE, there is a deep desire to prevent the failure of government and supposedly caring and responsible statutory bodies to treat fathers and mothers with parity of esteem from succeeding, through staving the voluntary effort of proper financial support. There is a deep commitment not to allow the failure of the authorities to go unrecorded. Over the years PE have collected a range of data a correspondence which will inform future generations that the destruction of the role of fatherhood, the removal of the concept of fatherhood from children’s psyches, came about in spite of repeated warnings, calls for support and the highlighting of discriminations by groups such as Parental Equality. There is an underlying commitment to develop a last gap option which will at least leave a legacy of advice, an accessible archive of the learning and insight (gleaned
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over 13 years through the hurt and struggle of those who have fought the system for the respect to care for and to share in the upbringing of their children). The basis of the legacy model is to reassign the very limited resources still available to PE and to redirect the effort to create an online resource which will be limited, but sustainable. It will have limited interactivity and cannot provide the human empathy that the personal communion of meetings produces. It will allow anyone who can go online, to have access to the PE knowledge base. Part of this strategy will be to digitise the library of media material which PE have been involved in over the years. An objective will be to publish online threads of correspondence between PE and the various authorities over the years, highlighting in multi-media environments, the discrimination against fathers and their families. With the inevitable further puncturing on the cloak of secrecy of the Family Law system, the online resource will strive to expose the depths of professional misconduct. The benefits of publishing this material will include encouraging other fathers and grandparents in their own personal struggle against injustice. It will present suggested methodologies for tackling unjust bodies, showing worked examples with facsimile material as backup. Using audio/video streams it will be possible for site visitors to upskill themselves. Most importantly a new generation of students who are open minded but unaware of the previous generation of emasculation of fatherhood can have access for research and information purposes about statutory behaviour which has been fundamentally anti-father and anti-children. If the tribunals over the years have proven one thing it is that if the evidence is produced and made public those who have been responsible for misconduct can be exposed. The other major value in leaving a legacy is in relation to the valuable experience gleaned and crystallised in the PE Shared Parenting Program. This information, as confirmed by the testimonials of participants has had a measurable positive impact on a number of families. There are valuable nuggets of advice, practical methods of organising shared parenting calendars and tips for handling conflict and for seeing potential areas of friction ahead of time. In this model the essential strategy will include:1) The transition of the archives and shared parenting program to an online model. 2) Resolving the various outstanding finances and outstanding commitments for the group. 3) Continuing to provide the local office in Dundalk for as long as funding permits, with support limited to available funding. 4) Identifying the contact details for the relevant personnel in statutory bodies and government, who are actually responsible for the delivery of equitable treatment and support services for fathers and the families. The object will be to develop a web environment where visitors can identify the relevant statutory bodies and particular individuals and using pre-prepared forms and strategies site visitors will be able to apply more effective pressure to demand action and justice from them. 5) Redirecting the frustration of the fathers and grandparents whose angst is held within the PE community, a process which is energy sapping at the coal face, and channeling this frustration towards the responsible individuals. 6) Developing an ongoing funding to provide long term for a pared down but sustainable online presence. Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
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The work and planning around this third, low resource legacy model is not inconsistent, in the short term, with seeking to promote the sustainable growth model. In the event of PE securing realistic core funding, it is envisaged that a great deal of energy will be invested in developing the online facility with archives etc. The big difference is that in the low resource model it is clear from the beginning to the PE volunteers that it is not their responsibility to provide empathy, counseling, advice, and hugely draining personal support work that is the responsibility of the health, justice and other authorities to provide.
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Evaluation and Monitoring Over the year 2006, particularly over the first six months, it will be possible to monitor whether the proposals for realistic funding will be given measurable commitment rather than repeated lip service. Outstanding funding applications will have been adjudicated upon. If there is a definite level of support for the local/global model as proposed by Parental Equality then the Strategic objectives previously set out can be rolled out. If this happens it is envisaged that after one year of implementation there would be a substantive review of the interaction and success of the various elements of activity. Having the resource to employ competent professionals to drive the activities and report to the board of PE will empower PE to channel the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities to ensure maximum provision of support to a wider audience. If, over the first half of 2006, it becomes apparent that government agencies are unprepared to face up to their moral responsibilities to grandparents, fathers and their families by supporting the PE initiative then implementing the low resource legacy model will simply become the sole focus of the group. In this way both strategic options can run in parallel for as long as possible before parting ways. This period will also facilitate preparing those members who are heavily reliant on PE support to get in direct contact with the relevant statutory services and demand support directly from these services.
Phone:- 00-353-42-9333163 | e-mail:- info@parentalequality.ie | Web site:- www.parentalequality.ie
APPENDIX 3
Volunteers list by county Brian KeeltyJimmy McInteeGerry WalsheJerome Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ConnellMark TwomeyColm MartynCiaran QuinlanDeclan KeaveneyDavid MurphyJohn Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;NeillMichael RyanDonal LenihanChris LynchValerie FlannaganLuke MartinColm Deery Paul ColemanLiam HoltonRobert PigottSean KearnsAlan BeirneOwen MullinsGarry HoganJoe EganNorman Newell-
Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Cork Down Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laoise Laoise Limerick Longford Louth Louth Monaghan North Dublin Offaly Offaly Roscommon South Dublin South Wicklow Waterford Westmeath Wicklow
bkeelty5@gmail.com john@jpkloghomes.ie fftruthandjustice@gmail.com jeromeoconnell_2000@yahoo.co.uk anamcara@inbox.com colm1966@btinternet.com ciaran.quinlan@gmail.com dkeaveney@hotmail.com davejm168@eircom.net jon51np@gmail.com ryanmichaela64@hotmail.com donallenihan@gmail.com chrislynch2007@yahoo.ie val@parentsseparated.org lukemartinpe@gmail.com colmdeery@gmail.com pjcolema@gmail.com lholton@punchestown.com Secretary@IrishMensNetwork.com seankearns@eircom.net agbeirne@gmail.com owentmullins@gmail.com garyeaglehogan@gmail.com info@irishmensnetwork.com normannewell@gmail.com
APPENDIX 4
APPENDIX 5
Registration nnmber 316198
Parental Equality.ie Limited
Abridged accounts
for the year ended 31 December 2009
â&#x20AC;˘
Notice of failure of application (7 June 2011).
Feedback Assessment and cover letter (23 June 2011)