Mr. Seán Coughlan:

I wish to come back to some of the Senator's other points. The level of activity on the ground in local communities in social entrepreneurship and social enterprise is quite high in terms of local groups and people taking the initiative in trying to solve some of the challenges their communities face. We in Social Entrepreneurs Ireland see that in the number and quality of applications that come into us for the awards process we run every year. The level of expertise demonstrated by the social entrepreneurs who apply has been increasing each year, which is an encouraging sign.

The second encouraging sign is that in Europe during the recession the number of jobs created by social enterprises has increased rather than decreased. The potential is there and the real question is how we tap into it. We need to have a conversation with at least two groups, if not more. One of those groups is the ordinary citizens. In those conversations one of the most powerful things we can do is to role model. People often have ideas and want to contribute but are unsure how best to go about that. We can give them examples and show them what is possible. In a sense, organisations such as Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Philanthropy Ireland, Clann Credo, The Wheel and the Carmichael Centre have a real role to play in showing what is possible. I am very happy for people to put that challenge to us and we will need to step up to that mark.

However, we need to have a separate conversation with local government. That conversation needs to be about social enterprise and social entrepreneurship being not just a nice thing to do but of real and direct impact and benefit to local communities. We, in the sector, can bring that conversation a certain distance, but without the support of central government in that we will struggle. I regard those as two complementary conversations we need to have.