Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The community services programme, CSP, supports 400 community organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model. Funding is provided as a contribution to the cost of a manager and an agreed number of full-time equivalent positions. More than €46 million is available to support community organisations under the programme for 2018.

The CSP contribution is not aligned to the national minimum wage. It is a fixed annual contribution that is required to be co-funded by the organisations concerned from other sources, for example, from income received from the public use of their facilities and services. Having said that, a CSP support fund was established in 2016 to help organisations to secure their sustainability and assist them in meeting their obligations regarding wages. The fund provided additional funding to select organisations on a reducing scale over the three-year period from 2016 to 2018. My Department will commence a review of the CSP later in the year. The review will consider, among other things, how the programme fits with overall Government priorities as well as my Department's other community programmes and policy objectives. Decisions on the structure of funding supports for CSP-funded organisations will be taken upon completion of the review.

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