Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Arising from the review process I initiated in conjunction with my colleagues, the Ministers for Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in January 2004, the Government agreed a series of measures designed to improve delivery of services on the ground, arrangements under which community and local development initiatives are delivered and improve cohesion and focus across various measures. As a first step towards achieving better co-ordination of service delivery, cohesion funding of the order of €3,248,600 was provided to city and county development boards, CDBs, in 2004 to encourage local and community development agencies to advance improvements in links, cohesion and sharing resources.

The core objective of the 2005-06 round is the alignment of local, community and rural development organisations to achieve full area coverage. The major advantage of this approach is that the State will be able to deliver programmes such as the local development social inclusion programme and the rural social scheme through the new unified structures because they will have all-area cover. The intention is that, from 2007, there will be one structure delivering services in any given area and fewer structures overall in the country.

The extension of the Leader or partnership model of delivery, which is already proven in a number of cases, to all rural-based local development agencies will lead to better delivery of services. These agencies, when fully integrated, will deliver both rural and local development programmes, have personnel with expertise in a wider range of fields and be better positioned to formulate effective co-ordinated local and community development strategies.

The Government is fully committed to supporting participation in volunteering and recognises the valuable contribution made by volunteers on the boards of local, community and rural development agencies. Of the €4,836,927 awarded in respect of cohesion initiatives during 2005, some €1,463,400 was allocated to promote participation in volunteering at local level. A further €760,600 has been awarded for volunteering measures from the Cohesion Fund since the beginning of the year.

The procedures for the establishment of the boards of the new bodies will be addressed in the context of the cohesion process, with particular reference to ensuring that genuine community representation is achieved. It is in this context that I see the participation of volunteers best safeguarded, in a way that recognises and respects their contribution.

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