Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an gcomhairliúchán sin. It is good that consultation, with a view to arriving at a new strategy, is taking place. However, this comes down to a question of resources and to the level of Government funding. There is a huge amount of training and accreditation going on and the bursaries are very welcome. However, it is about creating a situation and environment where community development workers - people who put time, effort and thought into becoming professionals - enter into that discipline. They are passionate about the communities, understand that process is as important as the task at hand and get the holistic nature of community development work in the result being more than the sum of its part. These people by economic necessity cannot enter that sector or stay in it because the salaries and job security are not there. This really comes down to resourcing, certainty about resourcing and additional money. As we move towards the budgetary process, I ask that this be front and centre of the Minister of State's engagement with the Departments of public expenditure and finance.

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