Council’s poverty officer says ‘help is out there’

DEIRDRE O’Connor became the first-ever Poverty Officer for Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in August 2022, just as the cost of living crisis was beginning to come to a head.

“I started in this job at a time when more-and-more local people were starting to find it increasingly difficult to cope; costs were rising, and people were getting less and less from their wage.”

It soon became apparent to Deirdre that a social catastrophe was unfolding; poverty, once the problem of the unemployed, had begun creeping into the lives of working people, too. The working poor was becoming a burgeoning class. We saw what was going on, and began devising an anti-poverty strategy for Fermanagh and Omagh,” recalled Deirdre.

Working along with both the statutory and voluntary sectors, Deirdre and her council colleagues came up with a framework for helping local people who were being dragged below the poverty line.

“We knew that, ultimately, we’d need a long-term plan to tackle the root causes of poverty in the district.

“However, there were people struggling in the here-and-now, and they needed help immediately.”

Deirdre and the rest of the team identified three essential needs: Food, fuel and energy.

“We wanted to make sure that everybody’s most basic needs were met, so we gave money to St Vincent de Paul, who then used it to help people in the community that needed support with food and fuel costs.

“We also gave money to schools to help them run things like breakfast clubs, which was an additional way of taking some pressure off families and ensuring children were getting another meal.”

Deirdre’s team also pinpointed older people as having been hit disproportionately- hard by the cost of living crisis.

“We linked up with South West Age Partnership (SWAP) to bring relief to older people in the community, and we also teamed up with Easilink.

“Independent advice providers serve an important role within our community, helping people understand and access the benefits and support packages they are entitled to.

“We gave Omagh Independent Advice Service some money in reflection of the soaring number of referrals they have been dealing with since the start of the cost of living crisis,” explained Deirdre.

Alongside these additional funding packages, Deirdre said that other longstanding funding commitments were also upheld.

“The strategy was a real success last year, and made a real impact in the lives of many local people. So, this year, we are running it again,” said Deirdre.

The first part of this year’s plan has already been rolled out, and the council have at the time of writing helped 87 local schools increase food provision for pupils, many by re-estabishing breakfast clubs.

“With the holiday hunger campaign being no more, we decided that supporting schools to provide extra meals was one of the most important ways we could help local people,” added Deirdre.

“As well as that, we have given money to local charities, such as St Vincent de Paul, to fill empty tanks and help people turn on the heating, as well as having given aid to food banks such as Reach.”

Deirdre, then, turned to the reason she has pursued the line of work she chosen.

“To think that, in this day and age, there are still so many people local people struggling – 27 per-cent of people in Fermanagh and Omagh are living in poverty – is terrible, and we cannot just accept it.

“There are too many people facing impossible choices as part of their everyday life; being forced to pick between putting food on the table or oil in the tank.”

Deirdre said that there are people living in local poverty who are suffering in silence, still unaware of the help that is there to be availed of, if only they reached out.

“My job is to let everybody know what support there is for people who need it, and to encourage people to take advantage of it before their debt gets out of hand.

“Once you start using credit cards or buy-now-pay-later schemes, debt does not be long mounting up, and getting back on track becomes harder-andharder.

“Thankfully, there are loads of wonderful organisations on our doorstep that are willing to help.”

Nobody should suffer in silence. If you are struggling and need help, reach out.

Speak with a local independent advice centre, or look on the ‘Cost of living help’ page on the council website.

Concluding, Deirdre said, “Help is out there, but you have to ask for it.”