Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Members of the House for participating in these wonderful statements on our national social enterprise policy. I pay tribute to those involved in social enterprises across our country. As Minister of State at the Department of community development, I am very conscious of the work that is being done. I am delighted to be here today to speak on this important policy, which was launched in 2024 and is in keeping with programme for Government commitments.

Social enterprise has the objective of achieving a social or environmental impact rather than maximising profits for owners or shareholders. As we see all over Ireland, such enterprises are frequently about working together to support disadvantaged groups and people such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities and our Traveller community, or addressing issues such as food poverty or environmental matters. I had the privilege of being with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Ray McAdam, at the Dublin city social enterprise awards just two weeks ago. To see the brilliant awardees that night would give you hope. In my own county of Cork, IRD Duhallow does tremendous work. Social enterprises are part of the wider social economy and they make a valuable contribution to the social and economic progress of Ireland through the creation of jobs and the delivery of a broad range of services in areas such as home care, childcare, employment activation, retail, hospitality and catering, environmental services and social housing. They are innovative, entrepreneurial and are increasingly utilising new technologies and creative approaches to address social, societal or environmental challenges.

Members of the House and, I hope, members of the public watching and listening will be familiar with social enterprises that work in our communities such as FoodCloud, which redistributes surplus food from supermarkets to those who need it. To see what it does at first hand is extraordinary. I could also mention Rehab Recycling, which employs people with disabilities in waste recycling, and Speedpak, which provides customised packaging and distribution services for other companies as a means of providing work experience and training to the long-term unemployed. There also more locally based enterprises such as the Aran Island Energy Co-operative, which is working towards making the Aran Islands self-sufficient for energy by harnessing wind, wave and light. These are all supported under my Department’s policies. They are about transforming communities, offering opportunity and hope, inspiring all of us and empowering people.

Many people hearing the term "social enterprise" might ask what it is about. It is relatively new in our country but we have a long and proud history and tradition of non-State intervention in community and social life, which is very much consistent with the ethos of social enterprise. Many social enterprises emerged from the community and voluntary sector and built on the work of that sector in addressing social challenges.

A significant number of social enterprises in Ireland are governed by voluntary boards. In other cases, social enterprises have been established by entrepreneurs who have chosen to use the social enterprise model to maximise their social impact and their contribution to society. I thank all of the volunteers who give of their time and those who are risk-takers in this social enterprise space.

Before 2019, we had no formal or national policy for social enterprise. However, there had been research in the area, including a number of regional studies and a comprehensive report published in 2013 by Forfás, Social Enterprise in Ireland: Sectoral Opportunities and Policy Issues.

Collectively, those documents highlight the need for a cohesive policy to support the development of social enterprise and assist in realising its potential. This research consistently highlighted the potential for growth and the benefits this growth could bring to our society, the importance of access to finance for social enterprises, the importance of capacity building and business supports for social enterprises, the need for leadership and good governance in social enterprises, the benefits of enhanced networking and collaboration and the need for better measures and awareness of the impact of social enterprises.

In July 2017, the Government assigned policy responsibility for social enterprise to the newly established Department of Rural and Community Development, as it then was. This assignment provided an unprecedented opportunity for policy and that social enterprise space to be developed in a co-ordinated and integrated way, alongside other initiatives to support organisations in terms of providing services or tackling social and environmental issues in our communities. The first national social enterprise policy was developed in partnership with the sector and was underpinned by a joint research project undertaken by the Social Finance Foundation and my Department in 2017 and 2018. It was informed at a key national level by a bilateral series of meetings with key stakeholders, discussions and workshops and a public consultation process at international level by research papers and took the key learnings from social and enterprise policies published in other jurisdictions.

One of my predecessors, Michael Ring, was the Minister in charge when the first policy was published by my Department. Trading for Impact was published by the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, in July of last year, to follow on from the first national social enterprise policy. It was designed to cultivate and sustain a strong and impactful social enterprise sector in Ireland that enriches the social, environmental and economic well-being of our communities. This policy has five objectives. The first objective is to build awareness of social enterprise to generate wider public and institutional understanding of social enterprise and its potential, including through awareness-raising initiatives in education and youth engagement. The second objective is to grow and sustain social enterprise, which will allow social enterprises to benefit from supports to improve their growth and sustainability, including improving access to existing enterprise supports, developing new tailored supports, improving opportunities for access to markets and improving the capabilities of social enterprises. The third objective is to support the green transition to help social enterprises to contribute towards the green transition and deliver on climate action targets. This includes ensuring social enterprises can access relevant circular economy funding opportunities and avail of renewable energy and bioeconomic opportunities. The fourth objective, in respect of national and international engagement, will focus on actions that will develop and deepen our engagement and alignment on social enterprise policy on a national, regional, EU and international level. Enhanced engagement at national level is also targeted through co-ordination between public sector organisations and embedding social enterprise considerations in local and regional policies. The fifth objective, impact measurement, will focus on actions to improve the levels of quality of social enterprise data, provide access to social impact measurement tools and deepen engagement with academic institutions. This includes commissioning research and providing support for impact measurements to expand on the original baseline data collection exercise. It also points to convening a social, economic and academic engagement group.

Members of the House will be aware that my officials engaged extensively with stakeholders when considering the new policy and were careful to take a partnership approach with the sector in its development to ensure it reflects learnings from the first policy and developments since that time. This engagement included a series of bilateral meetings with key stakeholders, including Departments, representative bodies and networks, as well as a number of regional stakeholder engagement events and a public consultation which received submissions from 43 stakeholders. In addition, a number of reports and reviews were undertaken in order to develop a new strategy. The findings and recommendations of these reports are reflected in the policy.

In 2021, my Department commissioned the OECD to undertake an independent review of the first national social enterprise policy which consisted of a team from the OECD undertaking a week-long study visit to Ireland in 2022. The team from the OECD met over 60 social enterprise stakeholders and visited a number of social enterprises. Information gathered from this visit proved to be very insightful and provided officials with international perspectives on the development of social enterprise in our country and a valuable resource in developing the current policy.

The former policy committed my Department to improve data collection relating to the extent of social enterprise in Ireland and the areas in which it operates. The resulting first national baseline data collection exercise of social enterprise Ireland formed an important part of the foundation of the new policy and was published in July 2033. The findings of the baseline report were invaluable to understanding how important the sector is in Ireland. It highlighted that over 4,000 social enterprises operate across the country. The total income from social enterprise in 2021 was €2.3 billion. Over 84,000 people are employed by social enterprises, which is 3.7% of the workforce. Almost 75,000 volunteers participate in the sector, over 30,000 of which are board members. Some 60% of social enterprises employ people in active labour market programmes and 15% of social enterprises report they operate internationally.

Since the launch of the first national social enterprise policy, the social enterprise unit in my Department has spent over €16 million on supporting social enterprise policy in Ireland. As Members will know, the Dormant Accounts Fund has a particular focus on supporting members of the Traveller community, migrants, former offenders and other marginalised groups and improving the quality and delivery of services for disadvantaged communities. Some €14.9 million in dormant accounts funding has been used to provide capital support schemes, capacity building schemes, training and mentoring programmes and awareness raising to support growing and sustaining social enterprises.

A total of €1.3 million has been used to provide current expenditure to support the implementation of policy, including spending on an annual national conference, networking events, research, awareness raising and capacity building. This year, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I announced the Dormant Accounts Fund "growing social enterprise" scheme, which is worth €4 million. This scheme provides funding of between €1,500 and €97,000 to 125 social enterprises that will enable them to expand or deliver other goods and services to their communities. It is about supporting projects such as building works, repairs and refurbishments or the purchase of new machinery, vehicles or equipment.

Several other programmes delivered by my Department provide substantial financial and development supports. They include the community services programme, which provides 430 community-based organisations with support to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model. The programme supports about 1,700 full-time posts and 340 managerial posts. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, has since 2018 supported 1,063 social enterprises by providing training for disadvantaged groups. Its supports for social enterprises include the provision of advice, business supports and grants up to a maximum of €2,500 per annum. We all agree the programme is a phenomenal success.

During the delivery of the LEADER 2014-22 programme, 351 social enterprise projects were awarded over €16.9 million in funding, and it is anticipated that social enterprises will continue to be supported under its economic development and job creation theme. The recently announced new solutions social innovation fund aims to further enhance the social innovation ecosystem in Ireland and is open to organisations that operate in the social economy. As Members will know, it is co-funded through the European Social Fund+ 2021-2027, a European initiative aimed at reducing the risk of poverty and social exclusion, with an emphasis on disadvantaged groups. Phase 1 will establish a social innovation hub to develop the social innovation ecosystem in Ireland and support innovative projects, including direct supports to projects funded under phase 2 of new solutions.

Phase 2 is a complementary call for pilots and scale-up social innovation projects. These projects will be supported by the social innovation hub through targeted supports including mentoring, capacity building supports, access to information and financial support programmes. Social enterprises through their innovative nature will be a key beneficiary of this programme.

The second element of the ESF+ 2021-2027 being delivered by my Department is the Achieve Together social innovation coaching and mentoring programme designed to enhance the business expertise of organisations supported by the community services programme, CSP, and test and scale up their innovative business models to develop their social enterprise and provide an enhanced service. It is expected that this programme will increase the capacity of organisations to apply for and manage supports from other sources, be those local, national or at European level. Under the programme, organisations will be provided with mentors and coaches for a 12-month period. It is expected that about 50% of the 430 CSP-supported organisations will take part in this programme over its five-year lifetime.

My Department is also overseeing the implementation of the national philanthropy policy that aims to accelerate engagement with philanthropy for social good. We recognise the synergy between policies and the ESF+ new solutions social innovation programme, and we will be developing an enabling environment where social innovations, including social enterprises, can avail of opportunities arising from philanthropic and corporate social responsibilities to support social enterprises. It is recognised that such partnerships and philanthropic investment can provide unrestricted supports where Government may be restrained, and we will focus on growing this collaboration over the lifetime of the policy.

Through the delivery of the actions in trading for impact, my officials will continue to engage with colleagues across Government to ensure the improved access to the funding and supports needed to support social enterprises. Supports in this area include those from Enterprise Ireland, which works with companies to help them start up, grow and innovate, and a high-potential start-up, HPSU, team to provide hands-on support and advice to early-stage companies that need it, especially around innovative products, services or technologies. Members should know that those social enterprises that meet the criteria and have a company legal structure that allows for equity investment may be supported through this initiative.

In addition, the 31 local enterprise offices, LEOs, across the country that carry out enterprise development functions for Enterprise Ireland are the first-stop shops for providing information on all Government supports available for the SME sector. The LEO policy statement sets out clearly that social enterprises are eligible for LEO assistance, provided they operate on a commercial basis and meet the eligibility criteria for the scheme they wish to apply for. All social enterprises can access LEO training courses and LEOs have included events for social enterprises as part of their local enterprise week programmes in the past, including in the year just gone. A key focus for us in this area is ensuring a consistency of approach across the 31 LEOs when interacting with social enterprises and the active labour market programmes such as the community employment programme, the rural social scheme and Tús, which are of critical importance to social enterprises, with 60% of social enterprises with paid staff employed through these programmes.

Social enterprises in Ireland can take a variety of legal forms under the Companies Acts as well as under legislation governing co-operatives. The most common legal form for social enterprises is the company limited by guarantee, CLG. Over 75% of social enterprises are CLGs. In addition, the majority of social enterprises report holding charitable status. A 2021 report, Research on Legal Form for Social Enterprises, found there was no compelling need or great demand for this to be prioritised, and so the co-operative societies Bill 2022 is being drafted by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to consolidate and modernise the existing legislation to ensure there is a clear and more favourable legal basis for the co-operative model in Ireland. This would improve the options available for establishing social enterprises, and the views of the sector have been taken into account in drafting that Bill. Over the lifetime of the policy, further clarity and guidance will be provided to help social enterprises make informed decisions regarding the most suitable legal form or legal status to suit their needs. As the sector grows and matures, the needs and challenges of social enterprises that arise from their legal form will be monitored and reviewed.

Since 2021, my Department has sponsored the "Partnering with a Social Enterprise" category at the Chambers Ireland sustainable business awards, one of which is for partnering with a social enterprise. This recognises the valuable work done and supported by businesses up and down our country in partnering with social enterprises. My Department is also engaging at European level in the context of the Luxembourg Declaration that gives a commitment to the social economy as a driver of modernisation within the Single Market and has been adopted by 20 EU member states since 2015. The core commitments include: increasing visibility and recognition for the social economy; promoting a balanced development model to support the economic, social, and environmental aspects of the social economy's growth; ensuring financial support and a favourable ecosystem that leads to the expansion of the sector; championing social innovation; and encouraging and integrating social innovation and innovative public policies through high-level dialogue and mechanisms like the European action plan for the social economy.

Officials from my Department recently travelled to Spain to participate in a Luxembourg Declaration meeting and were pleased to be able to relay to the senior officials gathered there the work being done in Ireland to support social enterprises. I am delighted we can do that because it is important to be twinned with Europe. In line with EU objectives, partnership with the sector was evident through the development of Trading for Impact and continues through its implementation. Implementation of the policy will be informed and assisted by a stakeholder engagement group made up of key participants from the sector, who are very active. This group, made up of representatives from Government Departments, networks and representative bodies and social enterprises, will continue to meet regularly and help to ensure the various lead bodies listed in the policy are held accountable for the delivery of their actions. Overall responsibility for the delivery of the policy will rest with my Department, which will co-ordinate and facilitate its delivery to support and develop the sector.

The group has met and work is progressing well, including the establishment of working groups under the policy including a social enterprise social finance stakeholder group comprising representation from social enterprise and social lenders. The group will engage on the funding needs of the sector to investigate if the current financial instruments adequately address the needs of the sector. The process for undertaking a census of social enterprise in Ireland has begun. This census is a follow-on of the baseline data collection exercise that took place, as I said earlier, and will no doubt be very helpful in informing the delivery of the policy.

Actions under the policy also call for enhanced co-ordination and consolidation of social enterprise representative bodies and for my Department to commission a partner organisation or organisations to support the delivery of social enterprise policy actions. In line with these actions, and following a competitive procurement process, my Department commissioned a consortium, made up of Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, the Irish Social Enterprise Network, ISEN, the Local Development Company Network, LDCN, and the Wheel, to deliver a number of actions under the policy on their behalf. These include: two national social enterprise conferences, the first of which was held in Dublin Castle last year and the second of which will be held in Ballinasloe in November this year; a national social enterprise awards event to be held in Dublin next month; a series of regional networking events that took place in March and April in Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Cork, and Dublin; and a pilot awareness-raising programme for transition year students.

In line with the policy, my Department has also commissioned a pilot programme to investigate the challenges and merits of utilising a dedicated voluntary accreditation or quality mark for social enterprise. Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland is administering this pilot on behalf of my Department, and it is being run in association with an international body called the Social Enterprise World Forum. Over 70 social enterprises, including one credit union, have already been awarded the People and Planet First accreditation through this pilot, which it is hoped will make it easier for social enterprises to secure business supports, public procurement contracts, philanthropic funding, grants and more by providing a trusted mark of approval for individuals and businesses thinking about doing business with a social enterprise. The purpose of the pilot is to road-test how the verification will operate in an Irish context and will highlight its benefits and potential to social enterprises.

For me as the Minister of State with special responsibility in this area and for the Government, supporting social enterprise is not just a policy priority - it is a statement of intent about the kind of Ireland we want to build. Social enterprises do not wait for the conditions to be perfect; they act. Quietly and practically, they create jobs, unlock talent, build local resilience and reimagine what inclusive and sustainable growth can look like. Trading for Impact represents a strong commitment by the Government to social enterprises and recognises the value and potential they bring to making our communities and environment stronger and more sustainable. Through funding, supporting strong frameworks and deeper collaboration, we are committed to creating the conditions where social enterprises can do what they do best: serve, include and empower.

As we look to the future, with all the challenges and opportunities that will no doubt come our way, we need more people and leadership who believe in the power of local action to shape national outcomes.

I see huge potential for growth in the sector in the years ahead. I am convinced that, through delivery of the actions contained in Trading for Impact, we will strongly support the development of the sector in the years to come. Having met many in this space, I am greatly warmed by their commitment and dedication.

I look forward to hearing the view of the Members opposite. I thank them for being here. I know they will raise many interesting points. I thank the Members for being here this afternoon. It is important that I listen to their comments. The Members have experience as well. I am opening to listening to Members and to participating with them.

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