Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for the question. In July 2024, prior to my appointment, the Department launched Trading for Impact, the national social enterprise policy, which was developed in partnership with the social enterprise sector. It has five key objectives, which are to build awareness of social enterprises, help them grow their financial sustainability, contribute to the green transition, deepen alignment from local to international level, and improve our understanding of social enterprises and their impact.

A stakeholder engagement group was established in June 2025, including public and private stakeholders, to co-ordinate delivery of the policy. Three working groups have now been established to address social financing issues and gaps, increase participation in public and private procurement, and raise awareness and make their impact more visible. Through these structures, work is continuing to support and grow the sector. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I were pleased to secure €400,000 of additional funding through the Estimates process to support this work.

Areas of focus include a new Dormant Accounts Fund scheme to grow financial sustainability, which I expect to launch very shortly, and engagement with stakeholders, including the Office of Government Procurement, to increase procurement and sustainability for social enterprises through traded income. They also include phase 2 of a pilot voluntary quality mark for social enterprises to help build their visibility, and the census of social enterprises, which will be launched in the coming weeks, to better understand and support the sector and help to set the direction of future policy.

While there was some delay in commencing implementation of the policy in late 2024, and I remind Deputy Ó Murchú that there was an election and a Government needed to be formed, significant work has been undertaken since my appointment and that of the Minister. We are committed to seeing this policy delivered. I assure Deputy Ó Murchú that the officials in our Department and other Departments, in partnership with the stakeholders, are working to ensure that all of the actions will be implemented over the lifetime of the policy. Deputy Ó Murchú mentioned SERI and I congratulate the former Minister, Richard Bruton, on his appointment as chair of SERI. We look forward to working with him to further develop the issue Deputy Ó Murchú has outlined. I have met many social enterprise groups since I became a Minister of State and I can tell Deputy Ó Murchú that I am very excited about this sector. I look forward to working with him to see it succeed further.

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