Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I am committed to continuing to provide supports to the community and voluntary sector. I am not absolving us from any role here but our Department does not set terms and conditions of pay. We are very much of the view that it is about supporting the community and voluntary sector. My priority is to create an environment where the sector can thrive, that is enabling and empowering, and that is building capacity and strengthening the sector. I am very much aware of the needs and concerns expressed and the reality some people find themselves in regarding the retention and recruitment of staff.

It is about ensuring we can build resilience, skill-development and capacity among the community and voluntary groups. It is about having a comprehensive training needs assessment specific to the needs of our small community and voluntary organisations, in particular. It is also about ensuring we can put in place multi-annual funding through SICAP, CSP, SSNO and LEADER to help us to create an atmosphere and an opportunity to retain high quality staff. We have high quality staff in the sector and we must acknowledge that and do all we can to ensure that knowledge base is not lost. I would be happy to hear any suggestions the Deputy has and I would be happy to work with him on them.

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