Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions and for being here today. I regularly witness the impact of the Louth Volunteer Centre in my own community. We are very lucky to have the centre in Drogheda. I can see its impact all of the time. It is very visible and effective.

I am very taken with a remark where the witnesses describe themselves as prime delivery agents. It never made much sense to me for the volunteer centre network to be subjected to significant funding reductions in recent years given that it is a gateway service and has such a huge role to play in the broader context of the community and voluntary sector. It can make a big impact for a very small amount of money and it has done so. I have witnessed it. I am very encouraged by the fact that Volunteer Ireland is insisting upon the production of a national policy on volunteering. It is unusual to find organisations in that space. Many organisations may feel they have something to fear from the development of a national policy. Volunteer Ireland clearly does not and I do not think it has anything to fear from it. I am encouraged that it is happy to be benchmarked against that. Where are the obstacles in the Department in terms of the publication of that document? Clearly, Volunteer Ireland has the support of this committee in terms of the publication of that policy.

I note that there has been a 100% increase in volunteers registering with these centres since the onset of the recession for the want of a better way of describing it. As people slowly but surely find their way back to work and full-time employment, what is Volunteer Ireland's view regarding how it will retain them? My own sense is that volunteer centres helped broaden the horizons of people who may have been out of work and who presented to and engaged with the centres. The people in question cannot envisage their lives without volunteering now, which is very positive, but how does Volunteer Ireland intend to retain the services of those with whom it has engaged in recent years probably as a direct result of unemployment?

I note from Mr. Cotterell's reference to the enterprise in Dromiskin in county Louth that an audit of talent and skills in the community was undertaken and that the centre now has a talent bank into which it can tap. Members might be interested in him elaborating on how the centre would go about doing that because there is a gap across the country in terms of communities having that sort of knowledge. It is a really progressive thing to do. Any organisation would wish to have a reasonably good audit of the skills available to it and the same could be said for a town or village. Could Mr. Cotterell elaborate on that and how he might recommend that members encourage their own communities to work with volunteer centres to carry out that exercise?