IT was only fitting that all five offices of Employability Service West Cork held their own in-house celebrations to mark 25 years of providing a valuable service to the people of West Cork.

Their final celebrations took place at their Bantry office on Thursday October 8 where Majella McCarthy provided the musical entertainment at their Chapel Street office. The previous day Bandon also 25 years, local duo The Shruggs provided the entertainment. In recent weeks the services’ other offices in Kinsale, Clonakilty, Bantry and Skibbereen also marked this important milestone.

The numbers tell it all as approximately 1,700 have found employment through Employability Service West Cork since its establishment in 2001, while more than 1,500 employers across West Cork have partnered with the service over the past 25 years.

Speaking to The Southern Star, coordinator Mícheál Hurley, who has been working with the service since 2007, said they have a team of 10 job coaches, an administrator and co-ordinator.

“We help and support people to get back to work or those who may have experienced a set back or people suffering from any obstacles that prevents them from getting back into the workforce. We are there to help them move forward,” said Mícheál.

‘Across West Cork there are over 200 people using the service just now. It’s a 12-month long programme whereby people have to be referred from the Department of Social Protection and the service is funded by them.’

Because of its nature, Mícheál said they are always looking for people as people are coming and going.

“We carry out a needs assessment and we work from a client centered perspective and we want to get them back into employment.”

He admits it’s quite unique that they have five offices across West Cork which meant they had five separate events to mark its 25th birthday.

“Bantry was our last of our celebrations and it was significant too because that’s where it all started. It was a group of individuals within organisation who saw the need for a service like this and that’s where it came out of. We’re actually one of 23 other organisations in the country.”

He added that the service is very strong in West Cork because it has five offices.

“My role is to coordinate the service and work with the team and support them. It’s very interesting work and there are so much benefits for those availing of this free confidential service. We offer 12 months of support which is very beneficial for them and it’s a voluntary service for anyone between 18 and 65.”

Mícheál said it was important to mark the 25 of the service in all the different offices which were attended by a lot of different agencies.

“What we found is that a lot of people met at these different celebrations who had never physically met each other before and that is really important.”

He thanked all those who provided the entertainment at the various offices including the African Queens who attended the Kinsale celebrations.

“We’ve had people from all walks of life attending any one of our celebrations. We wanted five separate events in our offices and we wanted people to see these offices too and meet us too. It’s all about working and supporting each other.”