As Kilkenny Job Club formally welcomed its new sponsor last week, there was a timely demonstration of the service’s value – as two of the club’s participants received invitations to interview.
The Father McGrath Centre has been the sponsor of the club since late May, following weeks of discussions during which it was uncertain whether the club would remain open. Last Friday was the first official public acknowledgement of the new relationship, as representatives from FÁS, the Job Club, and the Father McGrath Centre came together to officially launch the sponsorship.
Kilkenny’s new Mayor, David Fitzgerald, was also in attendance on his second official public engagement in his new role, as were a number of the Job Club participants. The current group has 16 participants, all of whom attend five days a week in the hope of improving their employment prospects.
Two of the girls from the group, Ciara Delaney and Bronwyn Duffy, received letters that very morning, inviting them to interviews.
“It’s our second week now, so we’re fairly new to it” said Ms Delaney. “We come five days a week. It’s been really helpful, it’s been great. It’s helped us with everything really.”
Ms Duffy agreed.
“We have interviews for a beautician course – Job Club helped us find that course, helped with CVs, interview skills, aptitude tests,” she said.
“We’ve been out of work for over a year now. It’s great to come here, it would have been a huge loss to Kilkenny.”
The new sponsor was also good news for the Job Club’s two permanent staff members – co-ordinator Patricia Duffe and administrator Natalie Porteus, who endured weeks of uncertainty regarding their own positions.
“I want to say a special thanks to Trish and Natalie, who have been through a couple of tough months here, where they didn’t know what their own futures were,” said Stephen Murphy, director of the Father McGrath Centre.
“The best resource that the job club has is its staff, and it’s these two staff members that deserve the most credit here today.”
Mr Murphy said it would have been a social tragedy if the community had lost the club. He also singled out FÁS for special praise in the endeavour to keep the Job Club going.
“We don’t know what’s happening at the top of the chain, but at the bottom of the chain, we have seen ourselves – FÁS have employed and trained 10 of thousands of people in the last decade.”
Ken Kirwan, himself an ex-participant of the Job Club, was also roundly lauded for his efforts with the working group to facilitate the transition from the old sponsor to the new sponsor. The Noreside Resource Centre had been the club’s sponsor for the previous 12 years, since it opened in 1999.
Marius Cassidy, the FÁS community services manager in the south east, said that he was looking forward to an exciting future working with the club’s new sponsor.
“It’s exciting that the jobs club is now under the auspices of a sponsor group that’s as dynamic and energetic as the Father McGrath Centre,” said Mr Cassidy.
“Job Club is about energy, of the people who attend, of the staff who work with them.”
Mayor David Fitzgerald said he had no greater priority than supporting Kilkenny’s unemployed, and declared himself a ‘servant to the people’.
“We have to ensure that we sustain the jobs we have, and put in place the environment to allow for job creation to emerge, so that people have the right to work, the dignity of work, and the position within their community,” he said.
