Labre Park Womens Programme
Our Labre Park Women’s Programme continued its successful work with women from Labre Park site, Ballyfermot. A programme on Child Development, developed in coordination with the Community Health Worker and Crumlin College in order to prepare the women to take up employment in the child care area and to enable them to develop their parenting skills proved very effective. Feedback from statutory social workers and health workers reported a significant improvement in parenting and highlighted the fact that the women were becoming more articulate in identifying their children’s needs and the supports they required to address them. At the annual award ceremony in Crumlin College, Margaret Wall, one of the participants on the programme, became the first person associated with Crumlin College to receive a complete FETAC Foundation Certificate.

Despite the demonstrable success of the programme in providing second chance education to a group of women who had been failed by the education systems all their lives, we were informed by FAS that it would no longer continue to fund the programme after July 2003. In spite of letters of support being submitted by a wide range of statutory and voluntary supporters, the Labre Park Women’s Programme ceased operation in July 2003. It has not been replaced, although Ballyfermot Travellers Action Group obtained some funding for a part-time programme.