Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and members for inviting us today to consider the communities and charities programmes of the Department. As I noted at the last meeting, the Department has lead responsibility for developing the relationship between the State and community and voluntary sector and for setting the policy framework. The intention is to strengthen and foster volunteerism in Ireland, building a support structure for volunteering locally from the bottom up. The Department also provides support to national organisations in the community and voluntary sector, through the scheme to support national organisations, SSNO. The SSNO provides multi-annual funding towards core costs of national organisations in the sector, with a focus on organisations that provide supports to those who are disadvantaged.

The Revised Estimates provide for just over €4.4 million in current funding in 2018 for the Charities Regulator. The Charities Regulator is Ireland's national statutory regulator for charitable organisations. It is an independent authority that was established on 16 October 2014 under the Charities Act 2009 and now comes under the remit of this Department. The general function of the regulator is to regulate charitable organisations operating in Ireland in order to increase public trust and confidence in their management and administration. The regulator is independent in the performance of its statutory functions.

I look forward to engaging with the members on these and other important programmes in the ambit of the Department.