Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 6: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he has received the recent report commissioned by the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs on the role of voluntary workers here; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that despite volunteers saving the State up to €485 million per year, volunteering is on the decline with organisations finding it more difficult to recruit and retain workers; if he plans to take action in view of this report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5816/05]

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if, in view of the recent Oireachtas Joint Committee report on volunteering, he has had discussions with the Department Finance on the need to increase funds for volunteering in line with the recommendations in this report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5806/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 44 together.

I welcome the launch of the recent report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Sports, Tourism, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs on volunteering. I am considering this important and valuable report and I hope to be in a position to respond in the very near future. Discussions with the Minister for Finance will take place as and when they are required.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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As these are oral questions, not more than 12 minutes is allotted.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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I would like the Minister of State's views on the issue of a vetting system for people who deal with children or vulnerable adults. Undoubtedly there is a difficulty nowadays in that people are somewhat reluctant to volunteer because of revelations in various areas that people abused clients. This is very important in terms of people having the confidence to become involved in the area.

On the issue of in-service training for people involved in volunteering, is the Minister of State disposed towards making money available for this training? I gather from previous replies that he does not intend to introduce legislation to deal with this sector. As argued in the report, there is a real need to provide incentives for people to become involved in the sector.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department is studying the report, which is interesting. Different aspects of the report, which includes some good suggestions, are being examined. Following the Tipping the Balance report, a sub-committee of the IAG considered how to move forward on volunteering. I will attend the committee fairly soon and I hope by then the Department will have examined the report. I do not want to give the impression that I will be able to act on all the recommendations in the report. However, I hope to be able to offer support in regard to some of the good suggestions made. Many training supports are already available to general groups in the community and voluntary sector, but perhaps more training can be provided. There is the general departmental training scheme and, under the FEDS and NETS, training was provided to a number of groups.

Vetting is an important issue. Many matters might not come under the aegis of my Department because the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda are involved in the matter. The report is being examined and I hope to have some good news within the next few weeks.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Does the Minister of State find it embarrassing that four and a half years after the White Paper on voluntary activity and two and a half years after publication of the Tipping the Balance report he is responding to a report from an Oireachtas committee when his Department has not responded to the recommendations of the original report and the response by the community and voluntary sector?

The fact that there was a reference to the White Paper in the Minister of State's previous reply indicates he is being selective in how it can and should be interpreted. I argue that one of the factors in determining whether the Department is successful in this regard is the number of volunteers in our society, whether they feel secure in offering themselves as volunteers and whether adequate resources are being provided. The Department is failing on each of those criterion. Rather than being an enabling Department, it has decided to be a distorting and controlling one. On those grounds, there is a case to answer.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question please, Deputy.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I have put several questions.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Considerable progress has been made on the White Paper and many of its recommendations have been implemented. I accept that the recommendations of some of these reports, particularly those of Tipping the Balance, were not implemented overnight.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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They were not implemented at all.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The situation is evolving. Since the Department was set up we have been working with this sector to streamline services. Everything cannot be done overnight. In regard to proposals from the Oireachtas committee, we have been working on proposals for volunteering for some time. A sub-committee of the IAG has examined them from the point of view of a introducing a White Paper and from the point of view of the recommendations in Tipping the Balance. It is timely that the Oireachtas report has come forward, as we were working on these proposals. Within a couple of weeks, irrespective of whether it has taken four and a half years to get to this point, we will be bring forward measures from a structural point of view to assist in working with people who are trying to encourage and promote volunteering on a short-term and a long-term basis.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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The committee's report contained other recommendations on where moneys in the dormant accounts fund should be targeted and on the use of the proceeds on the foot of actions taken by the Criminal Assets Bureau. I am referring to the proceeds from drug peddling and so on. It is recommended that those moneys should be redirected into the communities from which they came in the first place to combat social evils. There are many worthwhile suggestions in the report.

It is estimated that the activities of volunteers save the State up to €485 million a year. Having regard to that, there is nothing particularly generous in the financing of in-service training. What is the Minister of State's view on how much, if any, of the proceeds of the Criminal Assets Bureau should be redirected into those areas that have been affected by drugs-related crime? Has he a view in this respect on the allocation of moneys in the dormant accounts fund?

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I accept calling for CAB moneys to be put back into projects in communities that have been damaged by drugs is a frequent cry of people in the community. All CAB moneys were locked away, kept in suspension or whatever is the proper phrase for a seven-year period. This is the first year any of that money will be available for allocation to these projects or that it can be given to the Exchequer. It would be grand if it was redirected into projects in the community, but fundamentally it is important to ensure that proper resources are allocated to the drug task forces and into community programmes, and that has been happening. Funding to tackle the drugs problem is up 18% this year. If one were advised that one's source of funds would be CAB moneys, one would be concerned about relying on such funds, which may be good or bad from year to year. I do not much care from where the money comes once the money that is needed can be put into these communities.

The dormant accounts legislation is going through and some volunteer groups applied for funding under the original tranche of funds. The Department will be examining that when the new legislation is in place and the new system is operating.

Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Minister of State agree that funding should be streamlined? As a result of the multiplicity of applications, people who apply to many funds spend more time on administration than they would if things were streamlined in one Department.

Is a national campaign to promote volunteering necessary at present? We did not cover insurance in the report but within the context of a national advertising campaign on volunteering, could a national insurance scheme be established so multiple groups could come together to apply for insurance and, therefore, get the best deal possible? Many people using facilities have their own insurance but the building owners are also asked for insurance so sometimes groups are hit with a double whammy when it comes to insurance cover.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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There are too many sources of funding for community groups, that is one reason why the Department was established. Some groups spend 95% of their time chasing funds from different agencies, programmes and headings but it all comes back to State funding. We would like to be the only funding agency for many of these community groups — it would make sense but trying to pull that together is a difficult job. It would allow people to spend their time on what they should really be doing rather than chasing funds and making submissions here, there and everywhere.

We can help by promoting volunteering. The best way to do that, as suggested in the committee's report, is to bring this into schools and focus on it, particularly in transition year and on to third level. If young people become involved and are interested in and committed to volunteering at an early stage, that commitment will continue into later life. That is a recommendation in this and previous reports and I would like it implemented. I hope I will be able to do that when we have finalised our ideas.

The Deputy has spoken to me about insurance and although that comes under the auspices of another Department, I understand where she is coming from. From my involvement in sport and community organisations, I understand this and will examine it to see if we can help groups on that point.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Does the Minister of State agree it is time to direct more energy into volunteering? In conjunction with the Minister for Education and Science, he could ask schools to become involved in volunteering. They could then direct teenagers to go and visit old people who have no one to visit them at home or in hospital. We are too relaxed about this. It is no wonder that volunteering is dwindling when this Government is not focused on a constructive, determined effort to look after the less well off in the community.

Does the Minister of State agree that the money from the Criminal Assets Bureau should not go back into the central Exchequer but should be used in programmes in communities which are deprived and suffer from drug abuse and criminality? The money should be invested into those areas in addition to the existing budget. We know from year to year how much the Criminal Assets Bureau holds because it is held for seven years before——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy is moving well away from the question.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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We might be, but the Minister of State moved away from it as well.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The point on schools was made in the report. That is one of the areas I would like to help to fund and to encourage volunteering in the transition year programme. I am not in the Department of Education and Science. The funds in my Department will not solve every problem. However, we are hoping to take some measures in that regard.