Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions. I would like to take a step back, as this is a relatively new committee and my questions are not as specific as are some others. What is the witnesses' definition of "community"? What do community and community development mean to Pobal? Is Pobal succeeding in the community-centred approach?

I am from Tramore, County Waterford, and always have been very active in my local community. One issue that is repeatedly raised by members of the community is that smaller groups that are already relatively embedded in the community are buckling under the weight of administration. Such groups are small and have ambition but they believe there is a time-consuming burden upon them and they have to go through hoops and loops to access support funding. What can be done to support such smaller groups that are developing but are wasting too much time or missing opportunities because of the administrative burden?

Another issue which has been raised pertains to personal professional development, such as continuing professional development, CPD, in the early childhood development sector. There is a sense that remuneration is low for what staff are putting in but that may be somewhat mitigated if there were more funding and support for professional development programmes. Not only would such people have something more to offer to their communities but there would be an appreciation of what they do and that they are moving towards more professional academic qualifications and would then have more to offer to organisations such as Pobal.

There is a sense that the outcomes to which Pobal looks are very prescribed. The area of climate change was mentioned by the Chair. As a society, we will have to adapt not just to environmental but also social and cultural changes. I wonder about the ability to have emerging, rather than prescribed, outcomes. We will need a society that is able to adapt, emerge and be creative. People in the community are our leaders and we should be looking to them as to how to develop our programmes. They should not have a sense of being told what is wanted from them and that they should not exercise too much creativity because that does not work for the organisation. I would like for there to be more development in that area.