About

Board of Management

St.Benedict’s Resource Centre has been an asset to the local community for over 25 years. The Board Of Management, Staff and all the visitors have the pleasure and honour to witness the full potential of the centre’s benefit.



Chairperson: Mary O’Toole
Treasurer: Kathleen Burns
Secretary: Christine Hatchard
Members: Emer O’Connor, Fr Paddy Boyle

Mission

We have been providing a service to the local community for over 25 years. St. Benedict’s Resource Centre stands in the heart of the community. The Centre supports all from the area, from our childcare service to support for older people. We have something for everyone. We have support and programmes for individual community members, families and the wider community. Here at St. Benedict’s Resource Centre, we are passionate about providing a wide range of activities for all in the community, encouraging all people to be socially active in a safe and fun environment and providing access to services that meet the needs of members of the public at affordable prices. All our Management and staff are committed to providing excellent service. We are friendly, approachable and willing to assist as much as possible. St. Benedict’s Resource Centre supports and has Programmes for individual community members, families and the wider community.

Our mission is to provide a safe and welcoming environment for groups and members of the community to participate in cultural, leisure, early education and recreational activities.

History of St. Benedict’s Resource Centre

Our history begins when the new estate of Grange Park opened in 1967/1968. For a long time the site was home to who schools until 1996 when St. Mary’s building was given to the community as a Resource centre. When the new estate of Grange Park opened in 1967/1968 the area was part of Raheny Parish. The Parish Priest of Raheny at that time was Monsignor Fitzpatrick and he applied for permission to establish two schools – a boy’s and a girl’s school to serve what was to be the new Parish of Grange Park.
On 5th May 1969, 80 children were enrolled in Junior/Senior Infants and first class in the newly built school called St. Benedict’s. As the area developed the number of pupils enrolled increased rapidly so by July 1973 there was a total of 972 children enrolled from Junior Infants to Sixth Class. To accommodate these numbers and in line with educational thinking at the time, St. Mary’s Junior School was opened for Junior Infants to Second Class, and St. Benedict’s catered for Third to Sixth class.
Numbers continued to increase at a very rapid rate so that by 1978 there were approx. 1000 pupils in each school making St. Mary’s the largest junior school in Ireland with an enrolment of 1100 pupils.
At their peak, both St. Benedict’s and St. Mary’s had 9 classes at the same level. In addition to a total of forty classrooms between both schools, it was necessary to erect seven prefabricated classrooms. In the late eighties, enrollment began to decrease due to demographic changes. The prefabricated classrooms were removed and the existing playing field was developed.
St. Mary’s moved premises to refurbished classrooms in St. Benedict’s in 1995. In March 1996 St. Mary’s building was given to the community as a Resource Centre.

Governance

St Benedict’s is guided by community development approaches, principles, values, and methods. Our community development approach ensures we work to empower, enable, and support communities to improve quality of life. We work to address poverty and social exclusion and to achieve rights and equality for marginalised communities including people experiencing poverty, inequality, and social exclusion.

Charities Regulator
2021 was the first year in which the Charities Regulators Code of Governance Record Log was to be completed. St Benedict’s Resource Centre ensured its compliance with the Charities Regulators Code of Governance.

Please feel free to contact the Centre for our list of policies.

Vacancies

Community Employment (CE) Vacancies
• Household x 2
• Early Childhood Practitioner X 1
• Afternoon Caretaker x 1
• Community Kitchen assistant X 1
Contact Louise Parsons for more information by email or phone 01-8671040