Mr. John Cotterell:

In Louth, we work with Dundalk IT to link students' course work with credits for volunteering to provide that there is something in it for the students. It involves the raising and giving, or RAG, army, which is the student's volunteering society so that this is coming from the ground up. It would be helpful if the Department of Education and Skills worked with us and Campus Engage to develop that across third level and even at secondary level through transition year programmes.

A key issue we are raising today is a policy but we are also looking for the committee's support in maintaining our funding. We cannot do this without the members. We are struggling to get that awareness out there. It takes time and money. It is another key recommendation we have for the committee. What the committee can do to help us with that is to champion volunteering. For example, we could have a day of volunteering for Oireachtas Members where we get everyone out. Perhaps, they could help us to clean up a school.