Ms Deirdre Finlay:

By way of background, I note that The Wheel runs a European programme of work. Since 2015, we have been the national contact point for one of the European Commission's programmes, namely, Europe for Citizens, which promotes European citizenship. Our role is to promote applications and increase the funding directed to Ireland under this programme. Happily, we have increased the funding since becoming the contact point, meaning that more organisations have travelled through transnational work.

The Wheel's European work also promotes awareness of Europe. Since 2013, we have operated several projects funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communication promoting awareness of European values and institutions. As I am sure committee members will be aware, the Government undertook a wide-ranging consultation in 2018 to frame Ireland’s position on the future of Europe. As part of this work, The Wheel hosted citizens' dialogues on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which were particularly targeted at our sector and members of The Wheel.

This year we also facilitated citizens' dialogues around the country where we invited candidates for the European election to engage with our members to deepen public awareness of Europe and to encourage participation in the European elections. Additionally, for the last two years The Wheel has received funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Communicating Europe initiative. In this work we have been promoting our members' participation in European projects and raising awareness among Irish civil society organisations of the value of working in Europe.

From our discussions with civil society and citizens themselves on how to increase participation in European policymaking and policy implementation, we have learned that members of The Wheel are generally very pro-Europe. They wish to engage more in European affairs and build alliances but we find this is easier said than done. Participation in EU-funded programmes is one of the key ways in which our sector can engage with counterparts and organisations in other member states. We see this as the people-to-people dimension of building a stronger and ever closer union. Unfortunately, our activity in the field of European affairs in the past four years has led us to conclude that many Irish civil society organisations do not participate as actively in certain programmes as those of other member states.

In order to enable increased participation in EU-funded programmes we operated a pilot project in 2018 called Access Europe. The results of this project provided solid evidence that a support service and point of EU technical expertise for Irish civil society organisations is necessary and works. Access Europe ran for three years, North and South, and involved an investment of €387,150. Through the technical expertise granted to non-profit organisations, it helped to yield more than €22.5 million of funding for these organisations. This was achieved by supporting the filing of applications, with 74 applications filed.

Our member surveys and discussion groups have pointed to several issues which act as barriers to full engagement with European Union programmes among our members. Members cite the costs associated with preparing applications and implementing European projects. Ireland's geographical distance from other member states also acts as a barrier to entry.

Match-funding is another issue. Many of our members do not have the kind of core funding required to match European Commission funding. We propose the establishment of a special national fund to serve as a matching source for organisations that are successful in their applications. This would put them on par with publicly funded bodies such as universities, some State agencies, local authorities, etc. Ring-fencing is also an option. Given the inherent disadvantages our members often face due to their small scale and limited resources, ring-fencing a share of some European programme funds for our sector would help.

I know that the issue of simplification has come up in this committee before. Navigating the complexity of European funding applications and paperwork continues to discourage Irish applicants. We urge programme developers at the European Commission to continue to simplify the application process and the required paperwork.

With regard to partnership development, our members often lack opportunities to attend European brokerage events or travel to Brussels to engage with relevant platforms. While we know they should be doing that for policy and influencing purposes, they often do not have the necessary resources. Some support is required to help them to build those partnerships and alliances. With the departure of the UK from the European Union, Ireland will be seen by other member states as a valuable source of partners and expertise in building future European partnerships.

This is because of Ireland's long experience of EU membership, English-language capability and reputation for efficiency and innovation in managing EU funds over the past 45 years. The issues we have identified will need to be addressed if we are to maximise participation, which is arguably a crucial national objective as Brexit approaches rapidly.