COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE-TERENURE AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

QUESTION NO. 18

QUESTION: Councillor D. O'Donovan

"To ask the Chief Executive, regarding Community Centres in the Rathfarnham/Terenure/Templeogue areas.  Many of these were built with funds raised from within the community.  What is the current situation with these as some of them are being paid rent from, amongst others, the Department of Education.  How much profit are they making and who benefits from these profits, if any?"

REPLY:

Community Centres owned and built on Council lands are managed by voluntary management committees comprising of representatives from the respective local communities and representatives from statutory agencies and are structured as stand alone companies, registered with the Companies Registration Office (CRO). They are usually Companies with Limited Guarantee and follow CRO guidelines in relation to having Memorandum and Articles of Association, Audited Annual Accounts and an Annual General Meeting.

The funds used to finance the construction of individual community centres varied from centre to centre, depending on what funding streams were open at the time of their construction, but usually consisted of contributions both from local community fund raising efforts and from significant Government and/or Local Authority Funding streams.

These local committees / companies are tasked with the running and management of the local facilities in a sustainable manner, providing activities and services to help meet local community needs and to generate an income to meet centre running costs. Any profits made, which are usually very limited are re-invested back into the facilities and the provision of services within the facilities. A significant element of cross subsidisation generally takes place across the broad spectrum of activities and events. Information regarding the financial affairs of these committees / companies are usually available to respective communities / members and the presentation of Audit Annual Accounts at the respective AGM's provides specific detail as to annual income and expenditure and any surplus / deficits that respective centres may have.