Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

Everyone is aware of the role of the community and voluntary sector and the vital part it plays in providing essential services throughout the State. Workers in this sector work with some of our most disadvantaged communities in trying to build a better and more equal society, which is something everyone in this House should support. All Deputies in the House are aware of the valuable service the sector provides and are also aware the sector has been forced to absorb the cuts inflicted on it in previous budgets. As matters stand, all the indications are that the community and voluntary sector must, once again, face further cuts in the upcoming budget.

While the sector is varied and diverse, a number of common strengths are replicated among the thousands of organisations throughout the sector. By and large, the various organisations are cost effective. They deliver local solutions to local problems and deliver essential services the State has failed to deliver. These services include child care, care of the elderly, youth work, social inclusion, drug rehabilitation, disability, and education and training programmes. From 2009 to 2010, the community and voluntary sector suffered headline cuts of between 18% and 20%. That trend has continued and will continue into the future. These organisations and workers have been forced to absorb these cuts through redundancies, three-day weeks, pay cuts and service reductions.

If we speak to any workers in the sector, they will confirm that we have already passed the point where the cuts have resulted in the loss of vital services the State does not provide. These organisations were providing these services to the most disadvantaged communities. They will also say that they cannot absorb any further cuts. In fact, we need to reverse some of the cuts that have taken place. Unless we do so, more people will fall by the wayside. The cuts are having a huge impact on the fabric of our communities which are already trying to deal with the fall-out from unemployment, increased drug abuse, early school leavers. They cannot take any more. Make no mistake, further cuts will only serve to sacrifice our long-term social and economic development for short-term savings.

Deputy Dara Murphy spoke about the problem we have with drugs. This is a problem in Cork, like in every other city and town throughout the State. Many community projects throughout the country do great work on drug prevention to help combat the spread of drug abuse. Whether through intervention or education, the work they do plays a vital role in combatting the spread of drugs. Every time their funding is cut, this increases the chance that more of our young people - the people we should rely on to turn the economy around - will slip through the net and end up abusing drugs. In the long term, this will cost the State more.

I would like to touch briefly on the policy which saw the control of the CDPs taken from the voluntary boards of management and placed under the direct control of the partnership programmes. That process was flawed from the beginning and should never have taken place. A recent study by the community workers co-operative found that 45% of CDPs found the whole process cumbersome and not well thought out. Only 24% found the transition a smooth process. Many people within the CDP structure did not believe this policy was in the best interests of communities.

All it has done is hollow out local democracy by disempowering those at the heart of local communities, the decision-makers within their local organisations. We have seen local voluntary boards being wound up, staff being let go and assets transferred to partnerships. The CDPs had the option of refusing to participate in the model but one of the consequences of refusal was that funding would be stopped. In our constituency of Cork North-Central, Deputy Dara Murphy knows that one such project went down that road. It was one of the most successful CDPs on the northside of Cork city and provided services to people ranging from five and six years of age, in after-school programmes, to the elderly. It is now operating for two hours a day because funding has been cut and the organisation refused to transfer assets, which the local community had raised funds for and purchased. The local community elected a board of management to operate the assets on behalf of the community. For refusing to transfer the assets and cede control to the partnerships, funding was cut. Who has suffered? The local community has suffered. The model is flawed and needs to be reviewed.

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