Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

Part of the issue is due to the fact that a vast range of voluntary organisations are now in existence. Some of them are much smaller than the large organisations which existed in years gone by. I was in the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's county town last Friday, when I also visited Carlow and Kilkenny. I met with nine organisations during the course of the day and every one of them were driven by volunteers. I see this everywhere.

I take the point that some organisations find it difficult to retain volunteers. I happened to be in Tralee, County Kerry approximately three weeks ago. I was highly impressed by the pro-active approach the centre there takes to supporting organisations. The volunteer centres I mentioned in my reply will be built on during this year and next year with an additional 12 centres. These are county-based centres and are linked closely to county development boards and other organisations linked to local authorities.

I am confident we will be able to increase the level of voluntary involvement and, more importantly, through support and training will be able to retain volunteers. Part of the problem is that without training many volunteers got burnt out because they are asked to do anything and everything. With the identification of specific tasks for volunteers they are likely to stay in the organisation for a lot longer.

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