Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I wish to raise the issue of the status of the social economy and the lack of any strategic thinking about how dynamic a good social economy could be. We have had people over here from Scotland speaking about the social economy there and the huge contribution it was making to employment and personal development in that country. I do not want a direct answer but I would like some strategic thinking across three or four Departments about the potential of the social economy and to see the CE projects as a foundation stone upon which to build a much more dynamic social economy. Ireland is way behind in that respect. Perhaps that is an issue to which we could return in the future and to see how, compared to other countries, we can get our social economy on a much more secure footing, to enable it deliver the opportunities that are sorely required.