Ms Frances Haworth:

I thank Ms Begley for the question. I will comment on the funding for the community and voluntary sector before Ms Kelly comes in. There has been a lot of surveys and analysis done in the community and voluntary sector since the onset of Covid-19 in terms of the impacts on funding. There has been a significant impact, particularly on smaller community and voluntary organisations that are seeing increased demand for their services, on the one hand, and a decrease in their ability to raise funding through normal activities, including charity shops and fundraisers, etc., on the other hand. The Community Foundation of Ireland has certainly seen an increase in the demand for funding from groups over the past 18 months. We have been able to meet some of that demand through additional funding, including, for example, our Covid fund, which has responded with a dedicated €3 million since the start of the pandemic. We also distributed €6 million worth of Comic Relief funds last year. Philanthropy has played a key role in terms of being able to support the community and voluntary sector through Covid and its aftermath.

Some of the specific impacts of Brexit remains to be seen. To reiterate an earlier point, most of the 30 projects that are being funded through this fund include an element of convening and bringing groups together to discuss some of these key issues. They have only just started. We are very much in learning mode as we move to a stage when work together starts happening. We will have learned an awful lot by this time next year through the community and voluntary sector coming together to see where they are.