Future of Fr. Mallaghan’s Home under review

Future of Fr. Mallaghan’s Home under review

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Details: Parent Category: Aug 2011; Category: Week ending Aug 20th, 2011; Published on Sunday, 28 August 2011 18:22; Hits: 2515

The future of The Fr. Mallaghan Home For Boys at Victoria, St. Mark’s is now being considered. Spokesperson for the Diocese of St. George’s-in-Grenada, Fr. Sean Doggett has dismissed reports circulating in certain quarters of the local media that the home is being closed. In an exclusive interview with The New Today, Fr Sean said a radical reassessment and re-evaluation of the institution is being undertaken by the Diocese in conjunction with the Board of Governors.

Fr.-Sean-Doggett

“This report that the Home is closing down, that is simply not true, but there is a radical reassessment going on,” he told the newspaper. Fr. Sean said two options are currently being considered and in the case of one, the Board has already written to the Child Protection Agency suggesting that it takes over the management of the Home.

Another option being considered is for the management to be undertaken by one of the International Catholic Child Agencies that would be willing to provide some form of assistance. The Roman Catholic Clergyman disclosed that government meets a high percentage of expenses of the Home. “The Church pays some, but the government pays, by far, the greater part,” he added.

Fr. Sean stated that the shifting of responsibility does not mean that the Church is backing out all together, but felt that the management to deal with industrial relations, employment and training of staff would be better handled by another organisation rather than the Diocese and the Board. He said the process of reorganising and discussing the Home’s future is currently continuing. The Home was started by Irish Priest, Fr. William Mallaghan more than 30 years ago to cater for disturbed boys who are in trouble with the law and need to find a “homely atmosphere.”

Fr. Mallaghan ensured that each of the boys had a personal savings account from money obtained through agricultural work. After his death in 2001, things began to change and the institution became less than a Home. That change became evident after Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 when bigger boys from the institution in Mamma Cannes in St. David’s that was destroyed were temporarily placed at the Home in Victoria with the smaller boys.

Fr. Sean said the Church was not happy with the situation that existed from then and following the recovery after Hurricane Ivan, a reassessment should have been done but never happened. He also felt that the industrial problem that took place at the Home earlier this year highlighted the situation very dramatically. “The examples to the boys were not good,” he said. Fr. Sean said many of the boys now at the institution are either persons who were committed to them by the court or by the Child Protection Agency.

The Roman Catholic Church was embroiled in an industrial dispute with the Bank and General Workers Union in March over salary increase during which workers at the Home staged a picket in front of the building.