Ms Siobhan Cronogue:

I thank Deputy Carrigy for the question. I will start with the challenges. I am speaking on behalf of the 31 PPNs today. We are looking for an increase of €2.5 million. That is to support the proper regrading of staff. Our support workers are on unstable one-year temporary contracts. The co-ordinators were piloted ten years ago at grade five and although the remit, role and responsibility have grown substantially, the grade has not changed. I will give an example. We started with approximately 300 community groups and the anticipated membership for this year is 24,000 groups. We have more than 1,000 reps on 418 decision-making committees, both within and outside the local authority.

On the benefits Longford PPN has given the county, the social value of Longford PPN and the efforts of our community groups is estimated at approximately €62 million, and that is a conservative figure. However, if we multiply it by 31, then PPNs around the country are saving the Government just under €2 billion. It is a small ask to stabilise PPNs and retain staff.