THE DEPARTMENT of Justice has withdrawn funding for a number of support services for people leaving prison in the Dublin area, despite claims that it will place vulnerable men at risk of homelessness.
A spokesman for Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern confirmed to The Irish Timesthat funding for two services in Blanchardstown and the inner city which provide support to ex-offenders has been withdrawn.
They include the Bond Project in Blanchardstown, which helps to reintegrate young people leaving prison into the community, and Treble R, which offers training, computer skills and work programmes to ex-offenders.
Last week it emerged that Government funding for two other services for people leaving prison in the west - Harristown House in Roscommon and the Kazelain project in Sligo - had been withdrawn.
A spokesman for Mr Ahern said yesterday the decision to withdraw funding for all of these followed reviews which highlighted poor value for money and poor programme outcomes.
He insisted the closures were not as a result of spending cut-backs, but acknowledged that overall funding for probation projects will drop from €19 million this year to €18 million next year.
"It would be a dereliction of our duty if we didn't act on these value-for-money reports," the Minister's spokesman said.
"We have to ask, 'Is taxpayers' money being spent efficiently?' We cannot go on funding dysfunctional organisations."
The centres in question were informed last month that funding would be withdrawn, prior to last week's Budget.
Officials say the Probation Service is working with the management of all the centres to find alternative accommodation or services for any men affected by the funding cut.
However, Labour TD Joan Burton criticised the move and said the Bond Project in particular has played a vital role in helping to reintegrate former offenders into the community.
She said the decision to cut funding, without providing any immediate alternative service in the area, would place some of the most vulnerable people in the community at risk of reoffending or homelessness.
The Impact union has described the closure of such facilities as "ludicrous", and is seeking a reversal of the decision to close both Harristown House and the Kazelain Project.
The Bond Project was in receipt of about €300,000 a year, while the Treble R service received a total of almost €200,000 annually.
The spokesman for Mr Ahern said a total of more than 50 projects around the State were funded by the Probation Service.
Some of these projects have had very positive assessments under recent value-for-money reviews.
The review of projects funded by the Probation Service, published last month, sets out a strategy aimed at providing better governance, better management information and more effective and efficient delivery to the client group of the community-based projects in receipt of State funding.
