Mr. Denis Leamy:

I thank the Senator. Pobal sees community as every town, village and city across the country but we look at it through a lens of social inclusion, equality, where the areas of greatest disadvantage are and from where the resources to address those issues will come. We work with the Government to target those areas through that lens. While some programmes may have a more universal element, most have a targeted element to assist those who need supports to have a better quality of life in terms of engagements with society, while taking into account people's broader issues people.

On community development, which also relates to the Senator's latter point, it is very much a bottom-up approach. Needs are identified at a local level and plans are then worked through to respond to those needs. That is our definition of community development. However, we sometimes struggle with defining or working through the programmes as to how they might match that in the most effective way because there is a clear requirement for accountability for the funding and taxpayers' money spent on each area. Trying to get that match can be difficult.

To return to the Senator's point on people's creativity or innovation in responding to their local needs, a key challenge for us is that because an idea does not fit a particular box there may be no scope for it to be funded or worked through. We will address that challenge over the course of our next strategic plan and the next few years in terms of matching that in a better way. However, we are constrained in respect of data protection, public accountability for moneys spent and the various circulars on how that must be accounted for.

As I said in my statement, Pobal has evolved over a number of years. It has to evolve further in how it truly responds to those things that are emerging from communities.

A good percentage of our staff come from community development backgrounds and have worked on the ground in every parish in the country. They know the issues involved. We have to work through the frustration people sometimes feel at the very defined ways in which Pobal expects people to account.

I will hand over to my colleague who will talk about professional development in the early years sector.