Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's response. Multi-annual funding is a cornerstone for most community and voluntary groups to be able to put themselves on a firmer footing, as the Minister has explained. I will give him a good example of how important it is. I am aware of a particular addiction service that was down a member of staff for a period of six months during the pandemic and, for specific reasons, it could not recruit to find a replacement. This led to an underspend of €23,000 on the project. The HSE has insisted that money is paid back, despite the fact the same project has requested funding for the past five years to run programmes for people who are suffering from long-term mental health issues which have now been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic.

Multi-annual funding would allow for timely, well-thought out and strategic planning based on communities, agencies and stakeholders. It would allow for realistic key performance indicators to address ever-changing trends in drug use. Multi-annual funding would allow for services to respond with measures that are tried and tested. If there were multi-annual funding, the HSE could not come to the organisation I spoke about and request the return of the underspend. That organisation could use the money to address emerging needs, which is the essence of community development.

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