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

When we refer to community and voluntary organisations, we are referring to a variety of groups that get some, if not all, of their funding from different Departments. That is what makes it difficult from our point of view. No one Department can offer any kind of overarching guarantee.

We have been working to improve conditions for the programmes over which we have direct control. As the Deputy probably knows, the recast community services programme has seen increases to the wage contribution we make. We are implementing a lot of reforms and restructuring of other programmes to improve the situation there. We will be supporting the national support structures for public participation networks, PPNs. PPN support workers got a salary increase this year. I have introduced several new grassroots community development programmes in the past couple of years and conditions there are in a different arena.

I take the Deputy’s point. I, too, have heard anecdotes on the matter from local development companies on the ground. It would be good to get a handle on the data and hard facts in terms of the flows of people.

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