Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On that issue, in its pre-budget submission that will be published later this week, the committee has requested that an allocation of €2 million be set aside to assist voluntary and community organisations that may wish to come together to deal with the costs of doing that so that there would be one administrative element. The intention is not to impact on the delivery of services. In my community, Moore Community Council runs the community employment, CE, schemes for four parishes. The council covers all of the administration and the CE schemes operate in different areas. It is a very effective way of doing it, rather than having four different organisations trying to do annual reports, returns and administration. The committee has recommended, in the first instance, a budget line of €2 million to start this process and facilitate groups. The concept comes from an initiative developed in Belgium a number of years ago. All the women's organisations in Belgium are based in a single building in Brussels. The organisations still carry out the work that they do but they have one set of administration staff. It allows the groups to get on with their work, by being more focused on the delivery of services and complying with the legal requirements that exist. It also reduces the costs that Deputy Ó Laoghaire referred to.

When the Department receives the pre-budget submission from the committee, we ask that piloting something along those lines be considered, even if it were only in a small number of areas initially, to see how it could be developed.