Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

With regard to the PEACE programme, how will the contract be fully implemented given that the removal of its core funding would mean the Community Workers Co-operative will cease to operate beyond 31 March?

The Minister of State offered general reasons for the removal of all funding from only one of ten national networks, the Community Workers Co-operative. He misunderstands what precisely the Community Workers Co-operative does. For instance, it provides material and news within the sector but more importantly — this is clear from the correspondence received by the Minister of State — it has helped groups within various sectors move forward in a more structured and organised manner and plays a vital role in evaluating national policy. It would be a major mistake to take the view that State-funded organisations should be gagged if they do not agree with some of the measures in which the State is involved.

The Minister of State referred to an orchestrated campaign. While the national organisations may have communicated with one another, all of them have written to the Minister of State on this issue. They did not do so because they were asked to write to the Department stating that funding for the Community Workers Co-operative should continue or they believed they had nothing to lose. Rather, from what I can gauge, it is generally believed that the CWC has a distinctive role to play in the sector.

The Minister of State referred to the positive report from the Combat Poverty Agency. As he is aware, the agency went much further than that by expressing genuine concern that the Community Workers Co-operative will be forced out of existence by the withdrawal of its core funding.

The Minister of State misinterpreted my comment that the Community Workers Co-operative is regarded as a trade union in some quarters. The quarters to which I was referring are the Department and the Minister of State. Individuals in the sector belong to their own trade unions. It is incorrect to view the role of the Community Workers Co-operative as a trade union.

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