Mr. Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí:

It is sometimes dangerous to focus too much on headline numbers. There are somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 charities in Ireland, more than half of which are local, community-based organisations which are volunteer only and employ no staff. Another 20% employ fewer than five people, with only 2% having more than 50 staff. The sector is very fragmented but I would not say there are too many charities. In fact, we probably have fewer per head of population than is the case in the United Kingdom.

The problem is that we do not provide sufficient support to those charities that need to go to a certain scale. The market signals are not strong enough and there is not the degree of openness and transparency one would require. Those charities which move on and expand need to look at the best way of delivering their services. They do not have the same profit motives as private sector enterprises and, therefore, are less inclined to engage with shared services. These organisations may need incentives to examine their cost base. When they grow to a certain size, they should be examining whether, for example, there is a need to replicate all their back office functions. This is an issue applying to only a small segment of the sector.

The main difficulty is that the social enterprise sector is neither recognised nor understood. We do a lot of work around the country providing social and enterprise training. If one goes to the county enterprise board and mentions social enterprise, one is met with blank faces. We need to forget about the word "social" and emphasise that what we are talking about here are enterprises that just happen to be social. If that message goes out, it will be a good achievement.