Dr. Senan Cooke:

Senator Coffey asked me what could be done and what help could be given. Communities Creating Jobs, CCJ, was set by Dunhill Rural Enterprises Limited in Skibbereen following the conferences we had. We have a national organisation. A colleague of mine, Dr. Yvonne Crotty from DCU, is at the back of the room. What we want is so small, it is unreal. Dunhilll Rural Enterprises, a voluntary organisation, has invested at least €5,000 or €6,000 every year on items such as an office, phones and copying. That has kept CCJ going on an administrative basis. We have carried that cost.

The first thing we need is for our model to be interrogated and, if possible, piloted. It would be the second pilot because when we went to Galway, we worked with three parishes or communities and identified 116 jobs which would be provide by a business coming back from Boston, another coming back from Dublin and another coming back from London. Joe McDonagh, who was the chairman of the sub-committee in Croke Park, died and the project went off the rails, even though Enterprise Ireland had backed it with €13,000, GMIT had put €6,500 into it and the GAA had put €6,500 into it. The whole thing fell apart. As we were in the south east, we were unable to do anything about it because of our distance from Galway. However, with a second pilot and some help for administration, the model could prove itself. We believe it will transform society and the economy. People can look at us and ask what we are on about but I can tell members that if our model, which did not belong to me but to people, is implemented, it will transform local communities. Of course, it will do nothing without LEADER, local authorities and everyone else. I have spoken about two small steps that would make a major difference.

With regard to why schools turn things around, four individuals in Dunhill guaranteed a €400,000 loan - €100,000 each from their own pockets. They went down to the credit union, borrowed the money, bought a field, built 40 homes for young families, saved the schools and created a new dynamic in the parish for business people. The GAA club and the school were given a big lift. It was one of the most top-class things that ever happened. The GAA club set up a draw in 1989 that raised £1.5 million. It got five clubs together to share the costs and each one maximised the profits. They were able to maximise the profits while sharing the costs in five ways. We got £30,000 from Noel Davern out of a total of £350,000, and the five clubs, Dunhill, Roanmore, Kilrossanty, Dungarvan and Lismore, raised the rest.

I have been around the country. There is nothing people are not prepared to do. I was speaking on Kilkenny-Carlow community radio. People from Danesfort, which is near Kilkenny, asked whether they could talk to me. I told them to come down and I thought one person would come. I found seven people outside the door. They told me about their plan, which would cost €1 million. Was there any worry about whether they would do it or not? It did not enter their minds. Of course, they would do it and they would get the money from whatever source, including the community. Another GAA club opened an all-weather pitch that cost about €400,000. It has now spent €1.5 million. The treasurer told me it only owes €150,000 of that and set out what the club was going to do next. Everyone says rural Ireland is dead and gone when the complete opposite is true. It has massive potential, provided it receives help from LEADER and the local councils.

There is massive potential and social enterprise would be a billion euro sector if it got the chance. I have spoken to the different parties in Waterford, including Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party and the Independent Deputy and Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Halligan. I am trying to chase them and to see if they will agree to get the new policy through. I told somebody in the hotel this morning that to do so would unleash a massive amount of resources and energy that will transform this country, which we sorely need. We need our communities to motor ahead and not to worry about Brexit, Trump and all the other things that happen in the world about which we are not happy.