Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss social enterprise policy. I appreciate the updates the Minister of State provided. I will have a good look at his statement. Sometimes, it can be difficult to ingest what a Minister of State is saying across a 25-minute contribution.

Social enterprises are an important part of our communities. They need support to help them to flourish and grow. I hope the policy will develop into a framework of the practical, namely how to set up and how to run social enterprise. I am interested in the piece around the LEOs, which I had not heard previously. That is something that needs a little more investigation on my part because it could be very useful.

In my role as Sinn Féin spokesperson on social enterprise, I have had the honour of visiting many social enterprises across the city. There are a number, even in my constituency, such as Phoenix FM, Base centre and Huntstown resource centre where, if he ever visits, the Minister of State will get a nice breakfast and a cup of tea. I also visited a couple of others that struck a chord with me in terms of how we can grow and develop the social enterprise sector, which covers a multitude of different policy areas and areas that we need to discover. For example, the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun is an incredible place. It has research and education. It has: an eco store; rediscovery paint; the Boiler House Café; Rediscover Furniture, which is about upcycling; and Rediscover Fashion, which also is about upcycling. It is about getting things, for example, something as simple as the flags that are up here at the weekend that Dublin City Council put up along the quays, and making them into handbags, shopping bags, etc. It is innovative use. They also do a lot of education courses and workshops, working with local communities in the Ballymun and wider area.

When you look at the rediscover paint piece, for example, and we are talking about the circular economy and working with people, people bring their paint to their recycling centres. The centres get the paint and they have the facilities and the people, who they train, upskill and employ, to reuse it. People can then buy it as cheap as a tenner for 10 l. Everybody knows the cost of paint. It is a hell of a lot more expensive than that.

Something like this provides an opportunity to make a difference in communities. Not only that, but it shows the community what we do. We are very much in a throwaway society. Washing machines and other appliances nearly are designed to last only two or three years. We need to get away from that, so we need the necessary facilities. Social enterprise gives us that opportunity, not only to provide employment, training and education but also to provide good-quality jobs. It also helps the environment in the context of the climate measures that we need to put in place. It is something that needs to be supported. It also needs to be replicated. Every area should have a rediscovery centre.

Another social enterprise which I visited is the Priory Market in Tallaght. I do not know whether Deputies have been there recently. It has only opened up in the past few months. It, too, is a phenomenal space for the people of Tallaght. I desperately want one in Blanchardstown. There should be one in every constituency. It is a hub. An old factory where electronic equipment was being produced has been transformed. The company that owned it closed down. When it did so, those involved with the Priory Market looked at the space and asked what could they do with it. They have redesigned it to cater for those who produce and sell artisan food and drink. It has its own brewery. Local people are involved. One hundred and thirty people are employed there. They have their own businesses, all within the Priory Market, and they provide a range of foods. I can attest to the fact that the food is absolutely outstanding. I have not tried the beer, but the food is outstanding. It is one of things. When we are talking about social enterprises, we look at it maybe in the older context of social enterprises about what we do and getting people into employment. This is new. It is innovative.

One of their key asks that struck me when I visited related to seed or capital funding. Those involved would have never got the capital funding - it cost over €2 million - if it were not for a really innovative way of getting that funding.

There is a lot to cover and, unfortunately, I have only five minutes. I could literally talk for a lot longer, but I will give way to my colleagues.

There are a couple of quick questions I would like to ask. In the programme for Government-----

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