Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I spoke to the Minister with specific responsibility for this area yesterday evening and he explained that he would not be able to be here this evening. I understand I will have an opportunity to meet him next week to discuss the matter. I wish to put a number of issues on the record. I look forward to the official response from the Minister in writing.

I am very concerned at the current plans to essentially dismantle the community development project infrastructure across the country and to amalgamate those projects into regional and local partnership schemes. A number of years ago there was an independent assessment of the CDP, community development project, structure. It was highly complimentary in terms of value for money because the vast majority of people linked with community development projects are volunteers.

For anyone who is not familiar with the structure, essentially, an administrator and a project co-ordinator are put in place in the heart of a community to work with local voluntary groups in the areas of youth work, adult education, re-training, development skills for interviews or CV preparation, and care of the elderly. It is the job of the co-ordinator and administrator to assist voluntary groups to develop their capacity and skill base locally.

In my constituency there are two CDPs, one in Ballyphehane-Togher and the other in Mahon. The one I am most familiar with is in Mahon. There are eight CDPs in Cork. What the Minister seems to be proposing, which is bizarre, is to amalgamate all eight of those CDPs into one partnership model. The partnership offices are on the north side of Cork city in Blackpool. It would be one thing if that solution were the result of an evaluation process but we are in the middle of an evaluation process of CDPs, yet the Minister has announced what will be the new structure. That does not make sense to me.

I do not think anyone would have a problem with an assessment of CDPs, of which there are 180 across the country, in terms of delivering value for money in communities. Some of the 180 projects probably need to go. New areas have probably developed in the past five to ten years that need new CDP structures put in place. Nobody has a problem with the Minister seeking value for money and requiring a cut in expenditure and costs, but what I do have a problem with is the Minister prescribing a new structure before the evaluation process is complete as, in essence, he is giving a signal to the people carrying out the evaluation as to what he wants them to determine at the end of that process.

One cannot get the same value from local community structures if one amalgamates them into a regional management entity because one takes away locally based decision making power, the capacity to make decisions quickly, the taking into account of local concerns and responding to local concerns. The cost to the Department of the two employees in the community development project in Mahon is, I understand, approximately €130,000 per annum. However, through their fundraising efforts with other local voluntary groups, these individuals generate more than €250,000 from other sources, including Departments. They are a catalyst for successful, efficient and improved voluntary services in the Mahon community. We need these types of services more than ever for obvious reasons. I appeal to the Minister to reconsider his approach towards community development projects to ensure that we can keep what has been a great success in empowering local communities from a structural point of view.

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