Mr. Philip O'Donnell:

Fundamentally, the question is how we see the future of the community and voluntary sector in Ireland and its importance. The Deputy is right in all she said. There are tremendous difficulties in attracting and retaining staff when there is such a clear disparity in pay and conditions between similar types of work in the community and voluntary sector and in the public service, for example. That is already becoming very real on the ground. I know representatives from The Wheel were present last week. The Wheel took a very systematic look at this issue and examined the pay disparities. For the community and voluntary sector to continue to deliver, it needs to have that capacity. Having multi-annual funding that is sufficient to pay at a grade commensurate with what is available in the public sector and elsewhere is very important.