Up to 50 new family resource centres will be opened in the State in the next seven years, Minister for Social Affairs Seamus Brennan said yesterday.
He gave details of the expansion programme at a conference in Dublin that was organised to mark the opening of the 100th family resource centre.
The centres provide a range of community supports, including adult training, childcare services and supports for local community groups.
Mr Brennan said €187 million would be invested in increasing the number of centres by at least six a year over seven years.
He said the centres were a "beacon of hope" for people who were "struggling to rise above disadvantage, above the stresses of modern living and to escape from lives that are often blunted because of inadequate education, restrictions on personal development or a lack of opportunity".
Many family resource centres are now acting as the biggest providers of accessible and good quality childcare in some communities, according to Packie Kelly, chairman of the Family Resource Centre National Forum.
"The demise of the extended family support network and the increase in women's participation in the workforce has resulted in families looking to their community to meet childcare needs," he said.
The centres were also becoming increasingly involved in family mediation, combating rural isolation and helping communities respond to drugs problems, he said.
A report launched by Mr Brennan at yesterday's event found that there were 850,000 visits to family resource centres in 2005. Almost 140,000 people received advice and information while 16,000 did training courses.
Mr Kelly said many of the people who used family resource centres were lone parents. "Rather than penalising families because they don't fit the traditional description of the family, we must support them to prevent poverty and disadvantage," he said.
