Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The State will not be able to fund everything and there is no point in pretending. We have a great many organisations and groups. Let us consider the community services programme and the funding that my Department provides. We can see all the groups. People would be amazed with all the groups. Maybe that is one of the things we should be looking at. We have a €5 million innovation fund. Perhaps we should be looking at ways and means of doing business differently.

Perhaps we should consider whether some of these groups could amalgamate with other groups to work together on providing the same services. There are many groups and services. In saying that, I will never be critical of the voluntary groups or other groups that we support. It is only in a time of crisis that we see how some of them actually work.

The Deputy asked a question. No, the State will not be able to fund every single group in the country. We would have new groups every day. The minute they were set up, they would want to become national organisations, have CEOs and employ staff. We cannot do that. We have to set limits. In fact, I had to make decisions last year regarding groups' funding. They were to receive funding over a number of years and then become self-sufficient, but that did not happen. I then had to come along and fund some of them because they were providing essential services. When groups get funding from the State, it is very difficult to take it away from them.

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