Mr. Seamus Mulconry:

I will respond to a number of the questions raised and ask some of my colleagues to respond to the others. The philanthropic cliff was referred to by the Chairman of the Forum on Philanthropy. In essence, the two largest foundations in Ireland are The One Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies, who, between them, account for 86% of philanthropic funding in Ireland. Both organisations are limited life foundations. The One Foundation will close this year. Atlantic Philanthropies has two or three years more remaining. Following the closure of both in the region of €50 million and €60 million will be removed from the sector. While that is a sizeable amount, it is important to bear in mind that the sector raises a lot more money than that. This will impact on approximately 70 organisations and on a given number of fields, including child care, aging policy, dementia and other areas which are heavily funded by both of these organisations. The social innovation fund is the forum's strategy for dealing with this. Currently, the Government has committed €5 million, which must be matched by philanthropic funding. The social innovation fund was set up this year and is engaged in fund-raising as we speak to try to secure the matching funds.

The One Percent Difference campaign was launched in June, although we had been working on it for a long time prior to that. As I said earlier, approximately 570 charities have signed up to it. We will not be in a position to measure it until next year at the earliest. Like any other public awareness campaign, this is one for the long haul. There will not be a sudden burst in giving. In terms of fund-raising in the charity sector, Government funding, in some cases since the recession, has decreased to 40% and the number of people donating to charities has decreased by approximately 70%. Given the severity of the recession, it is remarkable how the sector has held up. The amount of income from fund-raising has also decreased. However, this varies hugely across the sector. Some charities are raising more funds now than they did prior to the recession but the demands on their services have increased exponentially.

The three areas of most concern to the public now are suicide, health care, primarily around cancer and heart disease, and the future of our young people. A charity whose fund-raising is related to any of these areas will get income. However, all of the issues mentioned are in areas in respect of which demand has risen exponentially. The charity sector has since about 2007 had a very rough time. I would expect some charities to fold or merge this year. Some will not last too much longer. Others have adapted and are doing reasonably okay but, as I stated earlier, demand on their services has increased. This One percent Difference campaign is about creating a culture in Ireland of sustained giving. Irish people are brilliant when a crisis occurs. They respond magnificently. They are not as good in between crises. We are trying to encourage people to find a charity about which they care and commit to it on a sustained basis. As I said, it will be some time before we are able to measure whether or not we are getting traction. I think we are but I do not know that yet for sure.