Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Funding for the community and voluntary sector is very topical. I attended an event earlier today. The Wheel in Carmichael recently published a consultation report on the needs of the community and voluntary sector. Funding was probably at the top in terms of what the needs were.

The need for multiannual funding is recognised in our five-year community and voluntary sector strategy. We have a multiannual funding programme. It is the support scheme for national organisations. I understand and accept that is not applicable to everyone and totally accept that the multiannual funding side, or lack thereof, makes it difficult for organisations to plan, attract and retain good people in the long term. That has been recognised officially and we are working on it.

The ongoing difficulty is that we are constrained by an annual Government budgetary situation as well. Trying to build in multiannual funding is always tricky, but has been done with the SSNO. I would be interested in growing that funding scheme.

I would need to have a conversation with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, about section 39 organisations. I am interested in setting up meetings with all of the line Ministers regarding the relationships they have with their key community and voluntary organisations. I would be happy to make the case to him on that. I know it is an ongoing issue and a report with recommendations was published some time ago. Interestingly, at the event I attended today section 39 organisations and the Catherine Day report were mentioned.

Regarding my communications with other Ministers on this, I wish to flag that last month I wrote to all Ministers to ask them about their level of engagement with community and voluntary organisations, with a view to benchmarking, to use the word that was used in a different context, and measuring the level and quality of engagement. That was all with a view to bulking that up.

A big part of my job is liaising with other Ministers to try to broaden and deepen their understanding and appreciation of the community and voluntary sector. The exercise I have started is something I will carry out every year. Bilateral meetings will also form part of that in order to build understanding across Government.

To be fair, the Deputy mentioned that in the previous recession the community and voluntary sector took a hit. There is a lot of evidence already to suggest that the approach this time will be different. The clear manifestation of that is the fact that last year the stability fund involved a significant commitment of €45 million to the sector. That was followed up by an additional €10 million in the budget. Last month it was announced that we will open a new scheme, on a smaller scale, totalling €10 million this year. I can say all of the things I want, but money is being put in place and the evidence is there in terms of there being a different approach this time to the community and voluntary sector.

I take the Deputy's point on only one year of funding being granted for community development projects. He mentioned training budgets. In respect of the five-year community and voluntary sector strategy, there is a cross-sectoral group comprising different Department officials and representatives from the community and voluntary sector. It prioritised three things to focus on this year. At the top of that list was training. Within that area, it prioritised three areas in particular. The first is community organisations that are volunteer-based and board members of community and voluntary organisations, because there is an issue with retaining board members, board members feeling stretched and so on. Another strand is LCDCs, in particular the PPN members.

The volunteering strategy published last year commits to supports. Again, there was quite a significant bump in funding for volunteering last year. It is the best bang for buck one can get in terms of investment in volunteering. This is not just a phrase. The evidence is there to show that a small amount of money put into volunteering will reap multiples in terms of benefits. We are in a good place in terms of having a full volunteering centre in each county by the end of this year and a set of policies and support around that. Volunteering Ireland in key in that regard.

I also wish to flag the fact that the strategy was launched last year but the implementation group has started to meet. The implementation phase of the strategy has started and supports and training are part of that. I ask the Deputy to shout if I have not covered any of the issues he has raised, but from my notes here I believe I have touched on most things.