The Attic House deserves recognition for its support to Longford's youth, say local councillors

Attic Youth House is “a phoenix that was risen from the ashes by the public” and deserves support from national government, according to Longford town Cllr Peggy Nolan, who has proposed that Longford Municipal District make a once-off payment to support the organisation and ensure its success.

Cllr Nolan's notice of motion was unanimously supported by her Longford MD colleagues at their recent meeting, but raised the issue that the valuable youth service is being ignored by national government.

“There are works going on in the Attic and they need funding to put a permanent worker in place. And if they don’t get that worker, that worker will go to county Leitrim,” said Cllr Nolan.

“The Attic is the go-to place for our youth. The work that they do can’t be quantified. We couldn’t afford to pay for the work that they do on a voluntary basis.

“They rarely ask for our help. They fundraise through Hype, which should be recognised as one of the finest festivals in the country. They’ve cleared all their debts. They own the property. They’ve done so much off their own back with minimal support from national government or even local government.

Also read: Longford's Attic House: Representing the interests of county's youth

“I’m asking that out of our resources we give them a helping hand. This is crucial. It’s crucial to the services that they’re providing. It’s the go-to place for our youth for a listening ear, a helping hand and encouragement.”

Head of Finance for Longford County Council, John McKeon, said that the council has been making contributions to the Attic House annually since 2009, with the exception of 2016 and 2017.

In this instance, he added, there are two funding schemes that the council can draw from to provide support for the Attic House.

“There’s the General Municipal Allocation, which is your allocation every year. And then for emergency once-off situations like this, where they’re trying to keep the jobs in Longford, sometimes we can dip into the paid parking funding,” he said.

“So my suggestion would be, first of all that an application is made to the General Municipal Authority and yearly applications go into that, but that just as a once off, this would be paid by the paid parking fund.”

Councillors agreed that they would allocate funding not exceeding €15,000 to the Attic House, which would be split between General Municipal Allocation and the paid parking fund.

Having agreed on action to be taken, the councillors steered the conversation to national government and the lack of support that such a valuable service is receiving.

Cllr Gerry Warnock agreed that the Attic team does “tremendous” work with the young people of Longford but said that Longford MD are really “filling a gap” that should be filled at a higher level.

“We have a Minister for Youth there now and what better example of how local youth services can be helped out by a proactive group like the Attic,” he said.

Also read: Longford's Attic Youth House 'absolutely devastated' at the loss of long-serving volunteer Ross McCann

“And I think, really and truly, this local authority is picking up the slack on a hell of a lot of occasions and I think it has to be acknowledged because I think this MD and the local authority, in general, have always been there to fill the breach for worthy community groups.”

Cllr Mae Sexton fumed that it is “a disgrace beyond disgrace” that no support has been offered from higher up, while Cllr Joe Flaherty stressed that a clear message needs to be brought to national government.

Any time the Attic comes to the door, we’ll never turn them down and I’m delighted to support Peggy’s motion. But I’m willing to emphasise the point that the Attic has been very, very poorly treated by the national government,” he said before addressing Cllr Nolan directly.

“We’re happy to dig deep but, Peggy, you need to bring the message back to government that we’re picking up the pieces for them again and it’s not the function of the local government to bail out local groups and organisations. Central government can’t claim the credit for all these services and resources if they’re not willing to finance them.

“That message needs to go back loud and clear that we’re more than happy to do it. But we’re not happy that we have to do it at the same time, because this is down to central government and, again, we’re digging them out and that’s not our job.”

Cllr Nolan accepted the comments of her colleagues and agreed that a strong message needs to be sent to government.
“When (the Attic) bought the house out there (on the Ballinalee Road), I was the one who liaised with the Taoiseach of the day.

“I went and met him in Dublin. He came down here on two occasions when they were overcrowded in the Temperance Hall. He walked the site and then there was a change in government,” she said.

“It went to the stage that I was so disappointed with the support that we didn’t get that I didn’t go to the opening of Attic because I felt I couldn’t. I felt that I had let them down. I took it personally that Attic was let down by the then Taoiseach and the Minister with responsibility. I have no problem going public with that because the truth is the truth.

“But I have to say I did everything that I could. And you’re right. We shouldn’t have to fund it. It should come from national funding. So I’ll put my hands up and say I did everything I could and I was mortified when it fell at the last hurdle. I did everything I could and I will continue to do it,” she concluded.

Also read: Memorable trip to Edinburgh with Longford's Attic House