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

The Department introduced a range of supports to help community and voluntary organisations meet the challenges they faced during and after Covid-19. For instance, the Covid-19 stability fund supported 863 organisations in 2020 and 2021, with total funding of approximately €48.8 million. In 2020, €4.2 million was provided under the Covid-19 emergency fund which targeted help at groups participating in the Government's community call initiative.

The community enhancement programme provides vital supports to assist local groups to re-open their facilities post Covid-19. The programme provided €4.5 million funding in 2021 for small capital grants for the improvement of facilities and it is planned to run the scheme again in 2022.

In November 2021, we launched the new community activities fund. This €9 million fund is being provided to support community and voluntary groups impacted by Covid-19, helping them with their bills and maintenance. The community services programme, CSP, also funded by the Department supports more than 420 community organisations nationwide. In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Department developed a €8.95 million CSP support fund to cover the period 2020 to 2021.

As Deputy Burke can see, the Department has responded very well to the needs of the community and voluntary sector throughout Covid-19. In general, I encourage all organisations to check the gov.iewebsite in order to be aware of funding opportunities as they become available. The community activities fund being run through local community development centres is the most current of these.

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