Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I join the Minister in complimenting the Senator on the work she did around social farming during her tenure in the Department of Health. Where a local development company identifies a need, social farming initiatives are funded under the PsyCap programme. In certain parts of the country, such as County Kerry, great work is being done. In other areas, social farming is funded by the HSE. It is an area the Minister and I have spoken about and we would like to do more on it. I visited west Cork recently and I witnessd a disability organisation rooted in rural Ireland looking to expand its remit. I immediately thought of the Senator and the area of social farming. The work she did was phenomenal. I speak as someone involved with an organisation that is involved in this area.

I am keen to progress the national philanthropy policy. It was launched in 2023. It is a very progressive, wide reaching and warmly welcomed strategy. It is about deepening our understanding and knowledge of the role of philanthropy and creating an environment where we can engage with philanthropists for the social good. We have witnessed how it can work for the benefit of people in many ways. The Department has a funding agreement with Philanthropy Ireland and Charities Institute Ireland to implement the recommendations from the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising to facilitate the growth of private donors in the non-profit sector. For me and the Minister , it is about taking the five key objectives to explore how we can get more people to get involved to see the benefit that can be derived from philanthropy. I commend the officials in the Department on the work they are doing in this regard. As a country, we are probably unique when it comes to this initiative. It is a wonderful policy. We must expand it and get more buy-in. We want to become a leader in Europe and the world in this field. Our officials are committed to it. There has been wide engagement. I am enthused by it. I look forward to working with Senator Rabbitte on it. If she can play any role in that, she is very welcome. The area of philanthropy is something that we need to more of as a country.