Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

I really welcome that. As I said, this is long-standing Sinn Féin policy but it also makes a lot of sense. I appreciate that the Minister of State outlined what has been done, but the difference between what he has said and community wealth building revolves around key performance indicators, KPIs, to use that jargon. A community wealth building fund is shown to have been successful where there are deliverables and it is measurable, meaning we can look at reductions in poverty and inequality in a given local area. The purpose of it is to take the money being spent and use it to drive not just the local economy but also the local community.

The State is a big player as regards spending power at local, national and international level. We must take that and channel it towards deliverables such as reduction in poverty, well-paying jobs for local people and additional local businesses, including those owned by co-operatives. It is not only what the Government is doing but adding an extra layer on top of that and measuring it. If we look at places such as Preston and Ayrshire, we can see genuine transformation happening at local level.

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