Lack of co-operation hitting cross-border social services – UU

People living in border areas may be losing out on vital social services because there is no co-ordinated approach to social work between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, research by the University of Ulster has claimed.

Dr Deirdre Heenan, who conducted the study into social work in the two jurisdictions, said much of the existing activity has been dependent on the skills, knowledge and commitment of a small number of individuals who are committed to improving collaboration.

“In many cases advances in this policy area have been largely due to the personal dynamism that has generated trust and facilitated interaction”, she said.

“One may have expected that the changing political climate in Ireland, coupled with the successful expansion of European integration and an increasing convergence between Britain and Ireland in social policy in the 1980s and 1990s, would have ensured that cross-border social work would have been firmly integrated and embedded into the delivery of social care.

“However, as our research indicates, this is not the case and to date collaboration and co-operation has not been realized to its full potential.”

Dr Heenan pointed out that people living in border areas have high levels of deprivation and high levels of need because of the very nature of national boundaries. “While we pay lip service to the idea of working more closely together, we do not do very much in the way of cross-border co-operation,” she concluded.

(MB)