Home News Community Stack becomes Board member of Portlaoise Family Resource Centre     

Stack becomes Board member of Portlaoise Family Resource Centre     

Portlaoise Family Resource Centre has just announced that Austin Stack will join their Board of Directors as a voluntary community member and will act as its PRO.  

Mr Stack – who led a campaign for justice for his late father, Chief Prison Officer Brian Stack, has also been to the fore in the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee.   

He most recently set up a community advice and help service in which he is volunteers his expertise to local communities, residents associations & individuals.

Mr Stack, who has a BSc in Social Policy & Criminology, is also a trained mediator and Restorative Practices facilitator.  He has worked closely on family links programmed with prisoners and their families through his work as an assistant Governor in the Prison Service.

Looks forward to supporting those most in need

The Portlaoise man says he is: “Delighted to accept the invitation and is looking forward to making a positive contribution to the board and helping those families in the community who most need our support.”   

He continued by saying, “I have a long track record of working with vulnerable families, community, residents & youth groups and I hope to put all that experience to good use on the board of the Family Resource Centre.”

There are over one hundred Family Resource Centres around the country and they come under the remit of Tusla, the Child & Family Agency.  They are generally located in disadvantaged areas and provide much needed help and support for families and young people.

The Portlaoise Family Resource Centre is located in the Treo Nua Community Centre and it is the anchor tenant having supplied part of the funding for the centre.

Referring to the recent withdrawal of Family Resource Centre members from the Board of Management of Treo Nua Centre, Stack said: “There are some situations around the use of Treo Nua which are far from ideal and are impeding the support that the Family Resource Centre provides to some vulnerable young families, this needs to be sorted out as soon as possible”.  

He went on to say that, “It is important that our local Councillors and the County Council Management take another look at the way the Management of Treo Nua Centre is being carried out.”

The full Board of Directors of the Portlaoise Family Resource Centre is: Georgette Phipps (Chairperson), Jimmy Todd (Vice-Chair), Patrice Doheny Dunne (Secretary), Betty Bland (Treasurer), Austin Stack (PRO), Louise Dent and Fr. Paddy Byrne.    

SEE ALSO – €150,000 worth of unstamped cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol seized by Revenue in Laois