Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

While I will revert to the business management systems to which the Minister referred in his response, I wish to delve briefly into another area. The report appears to give a lot of space or scope to the possibility of using non-governmental organisations, NGOs, or philanthropic entities to carry out services on behalf of the State. I will put to one side the issue with NGOs, regulation and so on and will focus on the issue of philanthropy. An issue of concern arises in this regard, namely, as the State faces a philanthropy cliff, from where will the funding for philanthropy actually come? Second, if one operates on the basis that one does not believe in altruism and that all behaviour is needs-driven, it follows that those who engage in philanthropic support obviously have some need they wish to serve. In this regard, could the situation arise in which the type of supports received through philanthropic funds went towards the things in which those agents are actually interested? One could then end up with a two-tier arts sector, for instance, in which the jazzy stuff and the black-tie events get funded, while community-based arts programmes do not, because they are not, to use a phrase, as sexy within the arts world. This also could happen in respect of development agencies and so on. I do not make this point disparagingly but given the concerns philanthropic funds bring and the needs return - I believe people operate on a needs basis and there is a return for it, even if it is a feeling they are doing good work in their communities - how does the Minister address such concerns?