Ms Deirdre Garvey:

I thank the committee for the invitation to present to it about the work and importance of Ireland's community and voluntary sector, charities and social enterprises. We forwarded our submission last week. I will make a few remarks before handing over to my colleague.

The Wheel is the national association of community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises. We are their representative body and, together with our almost 2,000 members, we shape and promote the conditions in which their work can thrive. We provide a range of practical training and quasi-business supports to help organisations do their work.

It was said well during the introduction that charities, community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises were an essential part of Ireland's society, but also its economy. This is an important point that we want to make at this meeting. The sector is composed of 33,000 organisations, of which more than 11,000 are registered charities. Believe it or not, it directly employs more than 160,000 people and manages an annual income and turnover of in or around €14 billion. These statistics come from the Charities Regulator and an organisation called Benefacts. A further 600,000 people are volunteering, upwards of 80,000 of whom specifically volunteer as charity trustees, namely, the volunteer boards of management of charities and community organisations.

These organisations deliver a public benefit through everything they do. They are active in the arts, culture, democracy, education, the environment, health, housing, international development, local development, religion, social services and sport as well as the representation of diverse interests in politics and the economy. Research that we are in the closing stages of finalising shows that one in every three people delivering public services in Ireland, that is, public benefit work, works for a charitable, community or voluntary organisation. Additionally, because we know that the sector generates circa€8 billion annually through fundraising or generation of income on top of the same amount again that is provided by the Government, the sector can increase the funds available for public benefit and public services work by 10%. As such, it is a significant sector.

The pandemic has demonstrated the extent to which we in society rely on the sector's services as well as the integral role it plays in supporting people and communities. As we will hear from Community Gardens Ireland as a perfect example, the sector provided significant resources in terms of energy, personnel, finance and commitment during Covid that could not be replicated by the State. It delivered flexible approaches and collaborative practices that supported from micro to macro level the ongoing battle against Covid-19. Organisations reorganised services to deliver remotely, they responded to the need for socially distanced and safe services, they cut costs, they redirected resources to priority areas and they designed new service responses targeted at meeting emergent needs. They responded in this way in the face of the single greatest ever reduction in earned and fundraised income and in a context where the demand for many supports and services, including advocacy, increased significantly.

Our members in the Wheel have provided considerable value. There has been a partnership and positive relationship between the sector and the Legislature and all Departments, in particular the Department of Rural and Community Development. The stability fund that was put in place for emergency cash relief for charities and to support the continuity of the sector's work during the crisis is welcome and appreciated. Our members reported a distinct and positive improvement in the collegial and partnership nature of the relationship. It is their fervent wish that this not revert to a business-as-usual approach in the vaccine-enabled reopening of society and the economy. As such, we welcome the early focus of the committee on key issues affecting our sector.

This is not just about Covid. The recovery of the economy is only one of the challenges facing society. Ireland faces a wide range of other challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, the transformation of the economy through digital technologies and robotisation, the continued rise of economic inequality, the potential for political upheaval even within the EU, and the consequences of Brexit, not least in Northern Ireland. For many challenges, not least complex problems like mental health, climate action and care for an ageing population, the community and voluntary sector is an essential partner for the State.

Mr. Cooper will go through seven particular priorities that we wish to highlight for budgetary consideration on behalf of a wide range of our membership so that our sector can be facilitated in making the contribution that it can and wants to make to the recovery and advancement of the economy as well as community and society.