Cathal Barry
Tusla has expressed misgivings about the Catholic nature of the ethos of the family centre in Boyle
EXCLUSIVE
The State has threatened to withdraw funding from a Catholic family life centre unless its faith-based ethos is diluted, The Irish Catholic can reveal.
The Irish Catholic understands that Tusla – the child and family agency – has expressed misgivings about the Catholic nature of the ethos of at least one such centre in Boyle, Co. Roscommon.
It is understood that the centre has come under pressure to amend its ethos considerably in order to receive further State funding.
Coming just months after Tusla dramatically cut all funding to Accord for pre-marriage courses, it will raise further concerns that Catholic agencies are being targeted for funding cuts unless they abandon their faith-based ethos.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Elphin would not confirm details of the negotiations between the centre and Tusla. However, it was confirmed that a public meeting is due to take place next week. It is understood that officials from the family life centre will use the meeting to express concern to locals about the potential loss of funding.
Secularism
A source familiar with the talks told The Irish Catholic that the threat “is just another one of those symptoms of the prevailing secularism”.
Bishop Kevin Doran, who this week was attending the quarterly meeting of the hierarchy in Maynooth, was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Irish Catholic.
Dr Tom Finegan of the pro-religious freedom Iona Institute said that such a threat from the State “would represent an extremely worrying development in Irish public life”.
“The decision would amount to State rejection of the idea that Catholic ethos is compatible with the common good. In effect, the State would be discriminating against Catholic associations and initiatives in favour of secular ones.
“This would be the antithesis of pluralism: it would be an attitude that seeks to restrict the influence of religious persons and groups in public life. Hopefully the matter can be resolved satisfactorily in such a way that respects the Catholic contribution to the common good and, in this case, to family life in particular,” he said.
At the time of going to press, a spokesperson for Tusla was unable to provide details on the negotiations or to confirm whether it was now Tusla policy to insist that faith-based organisations adopt a neutral ethos in order to continue receiving taxpayer funding.