Another Government attack on democracy

national | politics / elections | news report Monday February 26, 2007 22:17 by In The Know

CDP's warned off by Government in advance of elections.

Below is the content of a circular distributed to all Community Development Projects in Ireland. CDP’s are Government funded NGO’s established, according to the Department of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs “to support the mobilisation of local communities to tackle disadvantage. Voluntary and community groups have pioneered many creative approaches to tackling the most profound social problems in ways that Governments alone cannot do. By supporting projects that encourage the active voluntary participation and development of community leadership in the targeted areas, Government will continue to improve the quality of life for everyone in these communities.”
http://www.pobail.ie/en/PressReleases/htmltext,7798,en.html

Recently Rory Hearne wrote a series of scathing articles for the Village Magazine highlighting living conditions and Government intervention in working class “disadvantaged” areas around the country. The articles relied heavily on the input of CDP groups and other community groups working at the coalface in these areas for their input and the conclusions were pretty damning for the Government.

Obviously the articles hit a raw nerve in the FF/PD coalition as can be seen by the edited circular below.

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To the Chairperson of the VBoM of each CDP

Dear Chairperson

I want to take this opportunity to underline the requirement that Projects funded under the Community Development Programme (and associated Exchequer and EU programmes) must operate on a strictly non party-political basis. Your CDP is funded to deliver Government policies and provide services in the public interest and it is essential that this be done in an equitable, transparent and non-partisan way.

In this regard, the Board and management of your CDP must ensure that the identity or assets of the company do not become associated in any way with political organisations or their representatives, or with any individual(s) seeking election to public office.

Where a group fails to satisfy this requirement, the Department will have no option but to consider the suspension or permanent withdrawal of funding.

Yours sincerely

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Local and Community Development Programmes

There is a multitude of implications contained in the above letter as it is open to a number of interpretations. The first point is that the circular insists that CDP’s exist to “deliver Government policies” this is a new departure as many CDP’s have successfully and unsuccessfully lobbied and campaigned against Government policies in the past and present.

Secondly, the circular hints that any association with candidates could result in funding being ended. This is obviously an attempt to frighten Voluntary Board of Management Members who are usually local people concerned about their neighbourhoods into avoiding getting involved in political activism of any description. CDP’s in the past have been to the forefront in mobilising people to oppose social welfare cuts, increase childcare provision, ending child poverty, supporting second chance education and rights for migrants/refugees. If CDP’s exist now purely to deliver Government Policies and services then this activism will end.

Another implication will be that CDP Board of Management Committees could be forced to ask their staff not to run for public office for fear the CDP will be identified with a political organisation or candidate and loose their funding. This is also particularly ridiculous as if taken further than just CDP’s would mean that all organisations funded by the Government could have similar conditions applied to them.

Potentially all school, hospital, public servants, FAS training centres, etc, etc, could find themselves in the same position.