Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the retention of funding from which community groups, including sporting and arts groups, throughout the State have benefitted. I have seen in my own area the great efforts to which these groups go to put the funds to good use for their communities. I am also aware of the sacrifices made over many years by volunteers and workers throughout the State in the community development sector and agencies.

Recent moves in terms of the restructuring of the management of local community development projects were perceived by many as a hollowing out of genuine community development. There is great concern in this regard. Most of the projects funded through community employment funding operate on a shoestring budget and in very difficult circumstances, including those in east Cork. Their objective is to assist the most disadvantaged communities. As the Sinn Féin Party spokesperson for the arts and sport, I take this opportunity to commend those projects involved in combating poverty, social isolation and mental ill-health through the arts and sport. The role they play in terms of their contribution to the social fabric of people's lives is immense. They are helping their communities to deal with the social and economic issues at the heart of many of their problems.

Some of the benefits derived from the arts, such as self-esteem, are primarily personal or individual benefits, while others, such as developing community identity, occur at a community level. It has been suggested that those participating in arts programmes may accrue some benefits directly as a result of their participation. However, there are also less direct and more complex processes that are dependent on achieving intermediary outcomes. For instance, people learn new skills, feel more confident and make new friends as a result of participating in community arts activity and this, in turn, enhances their employability. The Recovery through Art, Drama and Education, RADE, project in Dublin deserves special mention in this regard. It works with drug users to address their addiction and to help them to regain control of their lives. We in Sinn Féin recognise and appreciate this contribution. It deserves to be nourished and enhanced.

Unfortunately, the Minister's handling of the matter beggars belief, with budget 2012 being the launch date for the latest instalment of the attack on community schemes. The announcement to initiate a review of some of those decisions while at the same time continuing with the promised cuts was particularly disappointing. Those in receipt of other payments such as lone parent or disability benefit are being devastated by the Minister's callous approach. It displays a total lack of appreciation on her part of the importance of this funding for those availing of it. It is safe to say that most participants in community employment schemes depend on the money they receive to balance their household budgets from week to week. They count on that money to feed and clothe their families and to heat their homes. The disturbing irony in all of this is that these cuts, which target some of the most socially important initiatives in the State, are happening at a time when billions are being pumped in to the black hole that is a defunct, dysfunctional banking system. Where will it all end and what is it all for?

Local community schemes, like so many of the other projects mentioned over the course of this debate, play an important, almost unquantifiable, role in the lives of many. In times of crisis the services they provide are in greater demand. They deserve recognition, appropriate support and encouragement. That the Government intends to continue its assault on them is a shocking reflection on its notion of what counts for a society. The troika may not value the self-esteem, confidence and quality of life of the people working on community employment schemes - it will be a damning indictment if the same can be said for all of us.

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