Mr. Seán Coughlan:

I thank Mr. Mulconry. I will briefly discuss the concepts of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship. Often, we view the not-for-profit sector as comprising exclusively charitable organisations, but a strong emerging trend in recent years has been the focus on social enterprise. Essentially, this is an organisation that provides services or products on a commercial basis but with a social mission at its core. The distinguishing factor between a social enterprise and a normal business is not whether they operate differently, seeing as how they operate similarly, but that the majority of the surpluses generated - if the organisation makes a profit - is reinvested in the social mission. In a sense, this creates the economic benefits accrued from any start-up or commercially viable operation as well as a considerable amount of social benefit. There is no profiteering or money taken out of these companies for private gain. I would argue that social enterprise and social entrepreneurship provide the best of both worlds.

However, the sector is notably underdeveloped in Ireland. As Mr. Mulconry mentioned, the level of social enterprise activity in Europe is much higher than it is in Ireland. There have been positive developments of late. Forfás was commissioned to publish a report on the potential for social enterprise. It was published this year. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, has been appointed by the Government to co-ordinate social enterprise activity across Departments. While this is a positive first step, there is considerable potential to build on this early momentum.

Social enterprise is a significant job creator and contributor to the economy. If we achieve just the mean level of social enterprise activity that is found across the EU, our sector could create 65,000 jobs. This is a major benefit. However, we will only achieve this through the creation of an enabling environment. The two go hand in hand. I stress that this is not a question of money in any sense, but of creating the environment to allow social enterprise to thrive.

I will provide a couple of practical and important examples of what is necessary to allow the sector to grow. Local government is in the process of being reconfigured and realigned. We suggest that the local enterprise offices, LEOs, which will replace county and city enterprise boards, CEBs, will include social enterprise as part of their enterprise strategies. This could be done simply and would help to create the environment in question. Local and community development committees should consider social enterprise when developing their plans.

There is considerable potential for social enterprise in terms of procurement. European legislation allows for the provision of social clauses in tendering processes.

If we were to introduce these clauses, not only could we have the services that, as a State, we are seeking to procure, but we could also have direct social benefits accruing from them also.

We would like to see a preferred treatment of social enterprises in local service tenders. In particular, for contracts or tenders below €25,000 we would like to see social enterprises being on preferred supplier lists. They should not get exclusive access, but should have to compete with other providers. They should be able to compete on a value for money basis. If they are social enterprises rather than private concerns, one will also get the social benefit accruing from that.

I wish to make a last point before handing over to my colleague Mr. Ó Corrbuí. The EU sees social enterprise and social entrepreneurship as critical components of its 2020 vision. Its strategy for the next term of the European Commission, the structural funds and planning, includes social enterprise and social entrepreneurship as major components. Ireland is in real danger of missing out on the support and benefit that will provide, however, because we do not yet have a policy, strategy or engagement process with Europe.

I will give two particular examples. First, at the moment there is a draft agreement for the use of structural funds. All member states will have to produce an agreement with the EU around the use of structural funds from 2014 to 2020. The draft agreement is out for consultation at the moment from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It comprises 159 pages. I note that social enterprise is in the programme for Government and in the action plan for jobs. We have also had a Forfás report published. In those 159 pages there is not one mention of social enterprise, yet there is funding and support from Europe across the Union for the promotion of social enterprise. I think we are missing out on that opportunity.

Second, there is a two-day conference in Strasbourg in January to promote social entrepreneurship. To give the committee a sense of the importance that Europe attaches to this particular topic, the conference will be addressed by the President of the European Commission, Mr. Barroso, as well as by six other European Commissioners. French President François Hollande will address the conference in addition to Antonis Samaras, the Greek Premier. This is a very significant initiative by the EU. Social enterprise organisations will be going but, to date, we have not seen representation from policy makers. I respectfully suggest that this committee might consider sending a representative to that conference, given its significance.