Visit from Minister for Communities

The Fermanagh Trust was delighted to meet with Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons MLA on the 10th July at Fermanagh House to discuss the Fermanagh Trust's work. A number of opportunities and issues impacting community and voluntary organisations were discussed.

 

 

Lauri McCusker, Director of the Fermanagh Trust discussing the meeting explained ''We really appreciated the Minister coming to Fermanagh House to learn about the work taking place here and the sustainable initiative we have developed here. We discussed a range of subjects including welcoming the current consultation on the development of a Charity Threshold in NI.and the need
for the Department to champion a number of actions in other government departments to support volunteering and the work of community based organisations, particularly locally based voluntary run groups now and in the future''.       

''We also discussed other initiatives  and opportunities including the positive outcomes from the Community Leadership in the West Programme which has been funded by the National Lottery Community Fund in NI and the  importance of the Department investing in leadership training as an integral part of its grant funding programmes in the future. Other areas discussed Included local issues including social housing  needs and the failure of the Department to advance the Grosvenor Barracks housing initiative since it was announced in 2007 and the recent development that social housing on the site was to be capped at a maximum of 30% of the overall development The Minister was very engaging and committed to advancing some of the ideas discussed''   emphasised Lauri.