Almost 40 voluntary organisations are faced with having to limit their services to the public because the building that houses them is in urgent need of repair. Carmichael House, on North Brunswick Street, in Dublin, is the headquarters of organisations such the Irish Sudden Infant Death Association, Muscular Dystrophy Ireland and Parentline.
"The building is now in appallingly bad repair. There is water coming into it. It needs complete rewiring and the exterior stone needs repointing," says Kate O'Sullivan, who is director of the Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups, the State's largest such base, which occupies Carmichael House and the nearby Coleraine House, on Coleraine Street.
Coleraine House, which is owned by Dublin Corporation, is leased to the Carmichael Centre for a "peppercorn rent". Renovated by the Carmichael Centre, it opened in June last year and is in good condition now.
However, Carmichael House is owned by the Northern Area Health Board, part of the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA). The governing body of the Carmichael Centre occupies the building rent-free, but it has no security of tenure. Individual charities pay a membership fee that goes towards running the centre.
The Carmichael Centre carried out its own building survey, which highlighted a need for roof, chimney, gutter and downpipe replacement or conservation, complete rewiring, window repair and restoration of the facade. Carmichael House is registered as a protected structure with Dublin Corporation.
"The Northern Area Health Board passed a motion 10 days ago stating that work on Carmichael House is a priority. The problem is, they say they haven't any money. The Carmichael Centre itself has no statutory funding, and investing in the infrastructure of a building we don't own is difficult. It is hard to fund-raise for something which belongs to the State," says O'Sullivan.
The Northern Area Health Board (NAHB) confirmed to The Irish Times that it has made an application to the ERHA to acquire funding for renovation and refurbishment of Carmichael House. The ERHA added that a schedule of work to be carried out on Carmichael House has been agreed with the NAHB. "This has been included by the ERHA as part of the overall submission on urgent priority needs which has been submitted to the Department of Health and Children. The ERHA is in discussions with the Department of Health on this at the moment."
Earlier this month, the Carmichael Centre launched its strategic plan for 2001-6. It includes plans to develop an information- and communications-technology support service and a centralised database for the charities it houses.
"We are being stymied because we have to divert our attention to this building project. By the end of the month, we will have to restrict use of the building by our member groups. We will have to ask those who are using it full-time to come in three or four days a week and those who use it part-time to reduce their usage on the same proportion. There is no need to close the building altogether yet, but at no time can the building be under full usage."
E-mail:carmichaelcentre@eircom.net