Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Through the Covid-19 stability fund, my Department supported a total of 840 organisations in 2020 and 2021 with total funding of approximately €48 million. That fund is now closed and there are no plans at present for further rounds of the stability fund. The innovate together fund was launched in May 2020 and was administered by Rethink Ireland. This consisted of a €5 million commitment from my Department’s Dormant Accounts Fund and €600,000 from philanthropic donations. The purpose of the fund was to assist organisations working with vulnerable people and communities. Some 71 projects received grants of between €20,000 and €200,000 as well as non-financial business supports.

My Department currently supports more than 420 community organisations in the community services programme, CSP, to provide local services through a social enterprise model. My Department recently announced a further extension of €1 million to the CSP support fund to cover the period up to December 2021, bringing the total funding allocated to the CSP support fund to €8.95 million for 2020 to 2021. This funding was provided to CSP-supported organisations which required additional assistance to continue to retain their CSP-supported employees on their payroll, provided assistance for the employers’ PRSI contributions and supported organisations considered by my Department to be most in need to cover overhead costs.

Most recently, I was pleased to launch a new community activities fund. This €9 million fund is being provided by the Government to support community and voluntary groups impacted by Covid-19. This once-off funding, allocated under the Department’s community enhancement programme and administered locally by the local community development committees, will support groups, especially in disadvantaged areas, with their running costs as well as with improvements to their facilities.

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