BY JEROME HUGHES
THE Irish Red Cross has indicated that the €144,000 it is currently holding in its Creeslough fund will be allocated towards ongoing trauma support, youth development initiatives, and miscellaneous matters that may require financial support in the coming year.
“These are issues identified by the community in our many consultation meetings,” a statement from the charity outlined.
In February, the Red Cross confirmed it still had €144,146 in funding to support those impacted by the 2022 Creeslough tragedy, and intended to visit the village in March to outline how the money, from public and corporate donations, would be distributed.
Despite several months having past, the remaining funding has not yet been specifically allocated.
The charity has provided the following statement: “When planning how best to implement this community support element of the fund, Irish Red Cross recognises that we are not a service-provider in the Creeslough Community.
“We believe that working with existing community service-providers is the best path to enable Irish Red Cross to achieve the most effective use of the remaining funds, in line with established principles for humanitarian action.”
Creeslough-related expenditure from the Irish Red Cross has reached €1,762,203.
The charity insists that every care is taken with respect to the governance of money donated by the public.
It says the vast majority of the original fund has now been apportioned with just seven per cent remaining, approximately.
“The approach favoured by Irish Red Cross is a community-led and community-controlled model with the additional involvement of a fully independent person involved in decision-making, regarding funds allocated.
“This will require Red Cross transferring both responsibility and funds to a local structure with the capacity and community support to undertake this new phase of work.
“Thus, this structure, once identified and established will be the appropriate group to which any ideas for further use of funds can be put.
“We have been engaging with local and county-wide structures over recent months to move this phase to a conclusion.
“It is currently a work-in-progress and we hope that it is swiftly concluded as a matter of priority,” the charity’s statement explains.
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