Bríd Smith: Community Cuts Disempowered Working-Class Voices
Bríd Smith spoke about the impact of cuts to the community sector following the 2008 recession, arguing they disempowered working-class communities and dismantled community development and anti-poverty work. She condemned severe funding reductions and the sidelining of advocacy, and called for a return to grassroots, community-led development rather than narrow activation and training models.
Focus on community sector
- She concentrated on how community development projects (CDPs), local development programmes and the anti-poverty and equality sector have been undermined, particularly in working-class urban areas.
Funding cuts since 2008
- She cited estimates that funding for the community sector was disproportionately reduced after the 2008 recession, noting figures of around 35% under the then Fianna Fáil and Green Party coalition and other assessments (Bamber 2013) that put decreases as high as 41%.
Effect on advocacy and grassroots organising
- Smith said CDPs and local development programmes were ordered to desist from campaigning, weakening collective action. She argued that sidelining advocacy eroded the sector's role in politicising and empowering marginalized communities.
Shift to activation and training models
- She warned successive governments realigned community work toward work activation and training programmes that replace grassroots development. The rhetoric of 'value for money' and accountability, she said, prioritized cost-effectiveness over community-led solidarity.
Examples and broader concerns
- While acknowledging rural issues, she emphasised serious problems exist across towns and cities and highlighted community pathways into education and politics, citing senator Eileen Flynn as an example of someone who benefited from community development work.
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I know the session is about rural and community affairs and I really want to focus on the community sector and how it has impacted in working class communities across my constituency and indeed across this city and others I think if you look back to the recession in 2008 and the cuts that followed you'll be able to see and track how the dismantling of the community development area the anti-poverty and the equality sector funding was really very disproportionate the severe cuts that were made by the then Fianna Fáil and Green Party coalition were estimated to be 35% to the community sector as against 7% to most other sectors in another estimation and Bamber in 2013 looking back and it claimed that the decrease in funding was as high as 41% so the CDPs of the community development projects and other local development programs were ordered to desist from campaigning and other advocacy and one of the core principles of advocacy and one of the core principles of community development work is collective action and as working class communities began then to find their voices and come together against poverty marginalization exclusion and injustice etc and become more politicized successive Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Green governments under the cloak of austerity and realigning the community sector and the community sector and our country's work activation and training program that has effectively replaced grassroots and local community development projects the rhetoric of value for money and accountability are key narratives of the government the systemic destruction of the sector was centrally political aimed at disempowering working-class communities and the anti-poverty and equality sector and i cannot emphasize enough how the systemic destruction of the vision of solidarity and equality sent a strong signal that the voices of the poor working-class communities no matter no longer mattered and were quite likely put paid to a real opportunity to contribute to working-class politicization in a very meaningful and organic way lots of people became politicized through the engagement of community development projects and opportunities arose for many people in communities in fact i would use senator eileen flynn as a fantastic example of somebody who developed through huge disadvantage to go on to have education and become in politics become involved in politics through the community work in the traveler community so we need to i think rethink the whole idea that community development has to be about delivering cost effectiveness that it has to be about just training and giving employment in the sector it's much much more and if it doesn't relate to the grassroots and doesn't engage with the community and is community-led then it is really failing and i think many of us in this house can pay testimony to that right across the more disadvantaged communities in our cities and towns so i just wanted to make that contribution although i do acknowledge the very serious issues for rural ireland there are also very serious issues in our urban towns and cities
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