A regular Thursday evening youth space is set to return to Skibbereen, fulfilling a promise made to more than 30 young people when the former weekly club held its final  meeting last year.

Skibbereen Community and Family Resource Centre has secured enough community funding to employ a qualified Youth Development Officer for 12 months.

The post is not a permanently funded youth-worker position. Its purpose is to reopen and develop the Thursday evening youth space, consult with local young people and put a realistic long-term plan in place for sustainable youth work in Skibbereen and the surrounding area.

The position has been made possible through proceeds from the annual Freezin’ for a Good Reason campaign, the brainchild of local fundraiser Richard O’Flynn.

The community initiative will enter its fifth year this November. Every day throughout November, swimmers, dippers, bathers and ‘lappers’ take to the water at Lough Hyne, gathering sponsorship to support young people in the local community.

Funds raised through the campaign have already helped Skibbereen Community and Family Resource Centre to develop its fully equipped sensory room and provide art therapy and counselling supports for young people.

As a direct result of that fundraising, the Centre can now employ a Youth Development Officer for one year.

The Resource Centre serves a catchment population of approximately 16,000 people. Its reach extends from Caheragh, Leap and Drimoleague to Crookhaven and the islands, covering a large and diverse area of rural West Cork.

The former Thursday evening youth space was originally established and operated by the Carbery Youth Project, YMCA, in collaboration with the Resource Centre.

Known locally as The Hive, it provided young people with a safe and inclusive place to meet friends, listen to and play music, take part in creative activities or simply relax and be themselves.

Young people could use the Centre’s music room for band practice, access the sensory room when they needed a quieter space, play pool, table football and board games, or enjoy a cup of tea and a chat.

When it was no longer possible to continue operating the regular weekly space, well over 30 young people attended its final meeting and spoke about how much it had meant to them.

Delia Jackson, manager of Skibbereen Community and Family Resource Centre, attended that meeting and promised the young people that the Centre would do everything possible to bring a regular youth space back to Skibbereen.

That promise is now being delivered. The Carbery Youth Project continues to provide occasional seasonal activities at the Centre as part of its own service continuation plan.

Its summer camp will take place at Skibbereen Community and Family Resource Centre from 22nd to 24th July 2026.

The new Youth Development Officer will be tasked with reopening the Thursday evening space while developing a sustainable model for its future.

The successful candidate will consult directly with young people, identify local needs, recruit and support volunteers, strengthen community links and explore the funding and partnerships needed to continue youth work beyond the initial 12-month contract.

The post will build on the substantial youth supports already provided or hosted by the Resource Centre. These include individual counselling focused specifically on the needs of young people, with free and subsidised appointments funded through Tusla and local fundraising.

The Centre also delivers the Know Your Mind and Grounded Minds teen mental-health programmes, funded through Tusla Dormant Accounts.

Creative and therapeutic supports include Coiseaim Art Therapy and Adventures in Words and Pictures, delivered through the Local Creative Youth Partnership.

The Centre has also facilitated neurodivergent meet-up opportunities for tweens, Dungeons & Dragons sessions and practice space for young musicians.

External activities hosted at the Centre include CoderDojo, alongside other youth and community programmes.

The Youth Development Officer will not replace these existing services. Instead, the role will help connect and strengthen the Centre’s wider youth provision while restoring a regular informal space where young people can meet, relax, take part in activities and build trusted relationships.

A central measure of the post’s success will be whether a sustainable structure can be established to support youth work in Skibbereen over the longer term.

Despite the scale of its work and the size of its catchment area, Skibbereen Community and Family Resource Centre receives only very limited statutory funding through Section 39 of the HSE and Section 56 of Tusla.

This funding does not cover the Centre’s rent or day-to-day overheads.

Every cent required to meet those costs must be generated through room rentals and community fundraising

This places continuing pressure on the Centre and makes community-led campaigns such as Freezin’ for a Good Reason particularly important.

The recruitment process for the Youth Development Officer position is now open, and the Centre is encouraging suitably qualified applicants to get in touch.

Anyone seeking counselling support for a young person, or interested in applying for the Youth Development Officer position, should contact Centre Coordinator Delia Jackson directly at [email protected], or by text or WhatsApp on 087 176 9603.