Just over two year's after it was controversially closed, Cllr Keith Martin has issued a fresh call for Westport's Centre for the Unemployed to be re-opened.
Outlining the huge increase in the live register and the certainty of more job losses to come the Labour councillor and candidate for Mayo County Council has written to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) seeking their support to re-open the centre.
The centre was originally opened in Westport in the 1980s as part of pilot scheme for the very popular resource centres by the ICTU. The centres were funded by ICTU and FAS and later on were supported by local development companies such as Meitheal Mhaigheo.
The decision to close the Westport Centre for the Unemployed was taken in January 2007 and the centre was closed down virtually over-night by the Castlebar-based Board of Management. At the time Cllr Keith Martin staged a protest at the closure of the office and established a committee to try and negotiate a reopening of the centre, but was unsuccessful at the time.
Cllr Keith Martin is adamant that now is the time to reopen the centre saying "The economic situation is very, very different to that of 2007 and there is a great need for the re-opening of this centre. This centre served the 20,000 people in the greater Westport area and now that we have such a huge leap in our unemployed we need it open again. I have written to the ICTU looking for their support and I would welcome help from any quarter in getting the centre open again.
"I will continue to push for the centre to reopened because we are going to need its help to get the unemployed back on their feet. A re-opened centre would provide CV writing, career advice, a jobs club, job placement, work experience, phone and fax services, emigration/ immigration advice and vital secretarial services to start up entrepreneurs. In addition to this the centre would provide representation to the unemployed in their relations with the Social Welfare services, Labour Exchanges and other state agencies, access to development and educational facilities, and assistance and training with computers.
Cllr Martin also dismisses completely the argument that Westport's new Citizen Information Centre replaces the need for a Westport Centre for the Unemployed saying "a re-opened Westport Centre for the Unemployed would provide a unique service which is completely separate to the role of the Citizens Information Centre, as its completely job orientated, it provides real support to jobseekers and is solely an advocate of the unemployed. While the Citizens Information Centre is a valuable addition to our town it in no way replaces the need for a Centre for the Unemployed. We see this in Castlebar and Ballina which both have Centres for the Unemployed, alongside FAS Offices, Citizen Information Offices and Trade Union Offices all performing different services."
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