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Minister For
Justice, Equality and Law Reform:
Funding of €110,000 in respect of a national missing persons helpline
made available by my Department in 2002 and 2003 was channelled through
the Victim Support organisation, and was in addition to the ongoing
funding that organisation received for the provision of services to
victims of crime. This funding of €110,000 was provided subject to the
conditions that no funding beyond the year 2003 should be implied, and
audited accounts should be provided to my Department on a calendar year
basis. To date, no audited accounts have been received in my Department.
At the end of 2003, my Department commissioned a review of the helpline
from the Department of Social Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology,
which recorded the number of phone calls to the helpline up to that time
at approximately 100. While the Department is of the view that this
service is a valuable one for the relatives of missing persons, it may
be the case that the service could be provided on a more cost effective
basis as an add on to an existing service.
The Victim Support organisation received financial support from the
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform from 1985 to 31 March
2005. Almost €5.5 million had been made available over the five years up
to 2005.
In March 2005, I decided that continued funding of the Victim Support
organisation could no longer be justified due to serious concerns in
relation to governance, accountability for public funds and poor service
levels, after a lengthy period of instability within the organisation.
The missing persons helpline was operated from the headquarters of
Victim Support alongside Victim Support’s own helpline for victims of
crime. I understand that Victim Support Ltd closed down its headquarters
operation during 2005 and a number of staff were made redundant,
including the person employed to operate the missing persons helpline.
My Department had no role in the decision of Victim Support Ltd to make
a number of its staff redundant, other than to insist that statutory
requirements - notice, holiday pay, etc. - be met and the interests of
the staff protected.
Also, in March 2005, I established a new Commission for the Support of
Victims of Crime to devise an appropriate support framework for victims
of crime into the future and to disburse funding for victim support
measures. The commission is entirely independent in its decision making
and examines each application on its merits. In April 2005, the
commission received an application from the Missing in Ireland Support
Service for €71,000 to establish, staff and operate a helpline for
missing persons. I am advised that in the course of follow-up
discussions, the Missing in Ireland Support Service rejected an offer of
funding of €25,000 from the commission and advised that it would accept
the full amount sought or nothing. It should be borne in mind in this
context that the commission is charged with funding support services for
victims of crime, and that, while some persons who are missing are crime
victims, most are not. I understand there was no further contact between
the commission and Missing in Ireland Support Service until November
2005. At that time, the commission suggested to Missing in Ireland
Support Service that it should contact my Department, which had provided
funding for a helpline in 2002 and 2003, with a view to furthering its
application for funding.
Other than the request to the independent commission for funding, no
request for funding has been made by the Missing in Ireland Support
Service to my Department as such. It remains open to the Missing in
Ireland Support Service to make a new application to my Department for
assistance if they so wish. Any such application will be carefully
considered on its merits.
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