Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

We all recognise the community and voluntary sector plays an important role in supporting all aspects of life throughout Ireland. It delivers vital services the Government neglects to deliver on many occasions. Communities respond to particular needs because they would be waiting a long time for the various powers that be to respond to them. I am glad one to see aspect of the amendment, namely, that the Government recognises and values the bottom up community approach so that local communities have a meaningful say in decisions relating to them.

I have difficulty with the word "voluntary" as it is used in this context. The word has been misused by a number of organisations which are far from voluntary. Executives are on extremely high salaries and have lucrative expense accounts. They are doing a disservice to the real volunteers throughout the country who give so freely of their time. It is ironic that €75 million of senior unsecured bonds is due to be paid by three financial institutions at the same time the sector is suffering more crushing cuts. It is picking up the pieces from the public service decisions on cuts which are made very far from communities. Public servants should go out to communities to see what is happening locally and not make decisions from offices.

The Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, launched booklets this week for parents and young people involved in substance abuse. She mentioned one child in 11 is in a family with an alcohol or drug abuse problem. She said, "It is imperative that we support to children and families in Ireland to tackle the issue of problem drug and alcohol abuse". My constituency is Dublin Central. I cannot discuss it without remembering the late Tony Gregory and the work he did in the 1980s and 1990s which led to the drug task forces, the community policing forum and the huge variety of community, youth and drug projects working on local solutions created by local people.

Community organisations have taken cuts of 18% to 20% and cannot take any more. I support the call for €3 million from the Criminal Assets Bureau, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, to be allocated to the community sector. It would be shortsighted to cut funding to the sector any further. It would cost a lot more in the long run.

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