The future of Dundalk Women’s Aid looks to have been secured after Louth County Council committed to allocate funding of €50,000 per year to the refuge.
Despite an offer of €15,000 each from Dundalk Town Council and Louth County Council last month, this was rejected by the Women’s Aid group, who said they wanted a long term solution to keep the facility open.
The Women’s Aid centre announced at the start of April that they would be forced to close its doors at the end of June due to a cutback in funding.
A national directive meant that a maximum of €20,000 was allocated to the refuge this year – down €75,000 on the level of funding from 2012.
The €50,000 funding from Louth County Council towards the running cost of the service is subject to the signing of a new Service Level Agreement.
Nevertheless, that is not expected to be a major hurdle, with local Labour Party Senator Mary Moran welcoming the news in a statement last night.
She said: “’I am delighted that the future of Women’s Aid Dundalk is now secure pending the signing of the new SLA with Louth County Council. Over the course of the last year I have worked with the staff of Women’s Aid Dundalk to deal with these ongoing funding issues. This news is a testament to the hard work of the staff in the service and is well deserved.
“The future of Women’s Aid Dundalk is now secure. I was delighted to be able to support this service over the last year and I will remain supportive into the future. Women’s Aid Dundalk provide a service which is very hard to replicate and I will fight to ensure it remains in our community. I am delighted that the incredible value of this service to the community has been recognised,” she said.
