Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach the progress made on implementing the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15233/08]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 2: To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the recent work of the task force on active citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17137/08]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach the progress made to date with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19441/08]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Taoiseach the progress he has made in implementing the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship as outlined in An Agreed Programme for Government 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20770/08]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 5: To ask the Taoiseach the progress to date in implementing the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24712/08]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together. Active citizenship is a priority area for the Taoiseach and I am delighted that he has appointed me as Minister of State in his Department to lead this initiative. The Government remains committed to strengthening community activity and increasing civic engagement across all sectors of society in order to develop a nation of diversity with a sense of shared values, of belonging in the community and of pride of place in our townlands. This concept is reflected throughout the agreed programme for Government which includes a number of the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship.

I will be assisted in my active citizenship role by a steering group, especially in the areas of public policy, business and the media, chaired by Mary Davis. Today I am announcing the members of the steering group which will shortly hold its first meeting. The members of the steering group are Mary Davis, Dermot McCarthy, Gerry Kearney, Mary Cunningham, Tony Kennedy, Sr. Bernadette MacMahon, Mary Nally, Colin McCrea, Joyce O'Connor, Conor Harrison, Karin Dubsky, Paraic Duffy and Maurice Coughlan.

The active citizenship office has already been working with relevant Departments under whose remit many recommendations of the task force are to be implemented, and with various business interests in order to encourage greater connectivity to the community through this sector. Consultations have also been held with the wider educational sector with particular regard to raising awareness of the potential for service learning and volunteering. Departments have prepared updates of progress on the public policy elements of the recommendations and I am confident this progress will continue.

Having worked very closely with the community and voluntary sectors in my previous role in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, there is great good will and potential in every community to use time, skills and experience to the benefit of others. I regard active citizenship as a very positive initiative and an opportunity for everyone to become involved.

As citizens we have responsibilities not alone to family but to our immediate and wider community. An onus of duty rests with us to exercise these responsibilities in different aspects of our lives, whether by voting, social interaction in our own areas or through our business connections. We must re-emphasise the values that have sustained us over many generations, cherishing our democratic freedom, guiding our young people towards responsible adulthood, sharing our successes in education, in careers and in business with those who have been less fortunate. I look forward to the challenges in this work.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State join with me in congratulating Age Action Ireland and the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament for mobilising people in a brilliant example of active citizenship in opposition to the Government's attack on those holding medical cards aged 70 or over? Regarding the recommendation, what is the status of the task force recommendation that the Government establish an independent electoral commission to encourage everyone eligible to register to vote to do so and to vote in elections, and to support voter education programmes and provide data, research and analysis on political engagement and awareness? What will the Government do with the recommendation for an audit on existing community facilities to be undertaken by local authorities through the county and city development boards, better use to be made of schools at weekends and evenings to act as community hubs and the expansion of education for citizenship in the school and education system and the youth and adult education sectors?

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I share the view of Deputy Morgan that the work done by the organisations mentioned has an important role to play in active citizenship. When I was in the Department to which I referred, I worked with those organisations to ensure they were able to participate fully in community development.

There is a long list of key recommendations. I will refer briefly to them but can elaborate if the Deputy wishes. We will lay before the House a report on the status of the implementation of these reports very shortly. Participation in the democratic process was a key recommendation of the task force, one aspect of which was the establishment of an independent electoral commission. This would encourage all those eligible to register and vote through organisational voting, by time, for example, and there would be a publicity campaign with explanatory material on registering to vote and the process itself.

A number of things have happened. A Green Paper was issued by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and several very significant initiatives have been rolled out, most recently one under the aegis of the Ceann Comhairle, whereby research and education officers have gone into schools. Many of us have participated in those programmes in which transition year students, for the most part, have been involved in workshops on how the voting register is compiled and examining the basis of participation in our democracy. From the number of schools I have visited in my constituency, I highly recommend that initiative as worthwhile.

Some weeks ago I had the pleasure of announcing modules for another initiative at the curriculum development unit in Dublin. That unit is working with the Department of Education and Science to prepare programmes for students up to transition year in order that they will understand better the functioning of our democracy and issues around social justice and participation. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, is working on a pilot project for post-junior certificate students and I look forward to that being rolled out, with the potential for politics to be developed as an examination subject at a future date.

Deputy Morgan raised the matter of the audit of community facilities. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in conjunction with the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is conducting an audit of those facilities which is expected to be completed at the end of this year. That will give us a good indication of what facilities are available in every community throughout Ireland.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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That has nothing to do with the report.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The task force on active citizenship included that matter in its report as one of its recommendations. I have it here.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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I have it here and shall read it out in a moment.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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That is being rolled out. Several other pilot projects are being developed with regard to the use of schools after hours and funding has been made available through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with the help of partnerships and Leader companies to examine what best use can be made of that facility.

The cost of insurance and insurance cover, a grey area, was often a concern for all of us who were involved in community affairs. Again with the help of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the voluntary associations have managed to get a policy to cover this at a fairly modest cost.

Another area recommended in the task force report was an examination of how the third level sector might be encouraged to become involved, by recognising volunteering. Universities and institutes of technology have initiated pilot projects in areas such as awards for participation in voluntary organisations associated with the community sector. The area of volunteering, which is only one part of active citizenship, is also being developed through the development of volunteer centres, and Volunteering Ireland and other organisations have been involved. There are a number of initiatives in the business area, for example, Give It a Swirl and Get to Know Your Neighbour, that are promoted by some companies as part of their corporate social responsibility function.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment to this very important job and I am sure he will do well. The report states that active citizenship involves more than community volunteering. Last March the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, said he would have an implementation plan ready in a few months. When can we expect to see this plan and will it be made available to everybody? At the launch of the report in March 2007, the former Taoiseach said he looked forward to seeing some practical initiatives proceeding on foot of the report. What are these practical initiatives and what is the time scale for them? I understood that one of them would be to establish a national active citizenship week. What is the status of that and when might it happen? What is happening in respect of the national presidential citizenship awards to recognise achievement?

The Minister of State said there are pilot projects with regard to the use of schools after hours. Will he let us have a list of those schools? I appreciate he may not have such a list with him today. How long will this pilot project last and when does he expect it to go nationwide? Will the Minister of State let us know where the volunteer centres are located and how that initiative is proceeding?

Voter turn-out has been recognised as an issue. What is happening with regard to that? Does the Minister of State agree that cutting the youth work budget this year does nothing to serve active citizenship? It does the opposite for young people. In light of the severe cutbacks put in place in the already very meagre allocations to youth services, what plans does the Minister of State have to engage young people?

Concerning the use of schools at weekends and evenings, how will the Minister of State advance this initiative nationally? Schools are closed during those times but young people, particularly young teenagers, have nowhere to go to socialise. We hear much talk about youth cafés but there is very little happening on the ground. How will the Minister of State ensure that young people, teenagers aged from 12 to 16 years, have a place to go to socialise in their own towns and villages, given that they can become active citizens rather than hang around the streets to meet their friends, which is not desirable. This is a significant issue nationally.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Most people understand this issue but I will explain it. The active citizenship unit in the Taoiseach's office is a facilitator and enabler that encourages others to develop a range of activities. Deputy Stanton mentioned the area of education, for example, and I shall certainly provide him with the list of schools he requested. The use of schools and greater access to community facilities for and by young people is an issue divided between the Department of Education and Science, the Office of the Minister for Children and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. That is one example. As Deputy Stanton will know, a number of youth cafés have been developed throughout the country. The Office of the Minister for Children, with organisations such as the National Youth Council, has been conducting an evaluation of the effectiveness of some of those venues. Some are very well resourced. The Gaff in Galway is an excellent example, as is The Squashy Couch in Waterford and there is another good one in Sligo. In other cases youth clubs will adapt their facilities on one or two nights a week to encourage greater participation by young people. Again, organisations such as the National Youth Council constantly promote the greater engagement by young people in non-formal education of different types.

I propose to lay before the House in the next couple of days the action plan we are discussing. It will be built around the recommendations of the task force. The steering committee will meet in the first or second week of November. I do not wish to be excessively prescriptive about the work it will do as each of its members has extensive experience in areas such as the statutory, community, sports and youth sectors. With the assistance of officials from different Departments, the work of the steering committee will result in the implementation of the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship.

At the last count, there were 17 volunteering centres in different parts of the country. Supported by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the objective of the centres is to increase the participation of volunteers in various activities. Some centres have development officers, while others use volunteers or existing staff members to increase the level of participation by all sectors of the community in voluntary and community activity.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Does the Minister of State agree that the mean action taken on medical cards has provoked a level of active citizenship which has surprised the Government and forced it to do a U-turn on its decision? Perhaps the Government will consider what other actions it may take to provoke certain other active citizenship revolts against it.

The Minister of State referred to a unit in the Department of the Taoiseach which deals with the issue of active citizenship. How many people are employed in the office and what is the status or standing of staff?

The Minister of State is floundering on this issue to the extent that one would be forgiven for believing the task force report had not been published. The report effectively provides a road map of what needs to be done. It is fine to provide Deputies with information on issues unrelated to the task force and in that respect I compliment the Ceann Comhairle on the initiatives he has taken. However, such initiatives have nothing to do with the task force report. The Government should implement the report, as it promised to do in 2007 when it had lots of money. Despite the Minister for Health and Children's statement that the Government had money coming out of its ears at the time, it has failed to act. Perhaps if action had been taken, the Ceann Comhairle and others would not have taken individual initiatives.

The task force report on active citizenship makes 19 recommendations, the first of which is to establish an independent electoral commission to encourage everyone who is eligible to register and vote in elections, support voter education programmes and provide data, research and analysis on political engagement and awareness. What action has the Government taken on this recommendation?

The second recommendation is that national presidential citizen awards be introduced to recognise outstanding contributions to civic and community life. My constituency colleague, Deputy Bernard Durkan, has called for the introduction of such awards for 20 years. I have not heard of any action being taken in this regard since the report was published and accepted by the Government. What is the position?

The report recommends the introduction of a formal citizenship ceremony to mark admission to Irish citizenship and engage and welcome newcomers. A similar ceremony could also apply to all Irish citizens when they reach the age of 18 years. It is envisaged that citizens would receive a scroll from the Government or letter from the President when they reach the age of majority. Has action been taken on foot of this recommendation?

The task force recommended the adoption and promotion each year of a national active citizenship theme to stimulate local initiatives and which would culminate in active citizenship week. What action has been taken to give effect to this recommendation?

Has action been taken to implement the recommendation that the group insurance scheme currently open to members of local community and voluntary forums be promoted widely among relevant organisations and groups? The purpose of this measure would be to counter prohibitive insurance costs for many community initiatives. As the Minister of State will be aware, excessive insurance costs have resulted in many community initiatives being dismantled.

What steps have been taken to introduce an initiative to help community and voluntary organisations meet compliance costs and ensure these costs are proportionate, as recommended in the report? Has action been taken to implement the recommendation to introduce a programme in the public service to promote community engagement and participation, for example, by providing time off for voluntary effort and through pre-retirement courses?

The task force report also recommended that local authorities prioritise the provision of community and recreational facilities as part of their planning processes. I am not aware of any specific initiatives taken in this regard in my constituency where a large number of planning decisions are made. Instead, councillors squeeze land for a football field from developers seeking to have land zoned. Offering a football field to the community is a new form of brown envelope and is being used by developers to blackmail local authority members to approve zoning for residential development. Has action been taken to enact in law the task force recommendation to ensure community and recreational facilities are prioritised in planning and made a requirement as opposed to being left to the whim of developers?

Has the recommendation that local authorities undertake an audit of community facilities through the county and city development boards been implemented?

The Minister of State indicated a pilot scheme has been introduced to give effect to the recommendation that better use be made of schools at evenings and weekends. The pilot scheme is a local initiative and has no connection to the task force report. Is it proposed to make civic facilities available for uses outside the relatively short periods in which they are currently used at substantial cost?

What action has been taken on the recommendation to expand education for citizenship in the school system and youth and adult education sectors? What is the position regarding the recommendation to introduce a certificate or award which would be earned through completing at least three months volunteering or community involvement activity in Ireland or overseas? The only recognition available in this regard is when large traders such as Tesco offer a community award to people who cut the ribbon on a new building. The task force recommendation is worthwhile and would be easy to implement.

Will the Minister of State confirm that no action has been taken to implement the recommendation that an initiative be introduced to promote, support and link together initiatives across the higher education sector? Similarly, no action has been taken to implement the recommendation to establish a national observatory which would act as a focal point for research on civic engagement.

The task force also set a number of what it describes as "ambitious but realisable" targets. Will these targets be included in the work the Minister of State envisages will be done by the steering group?

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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My initial response addressed in general terms the recommendations of the task force report on active citizenship. With the permission of the House, I will discuss in detail the progress made on each of the recommendations. The active citizenship unit has a staff of four.

On participation in the democratic process, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has appointed consultants to carry out preliminary research on issues arising in relation to——

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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More consultants.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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I thought the Government had stopped that nonsense.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I can only provide the information the Deputies seek if they permit me to speak.

When inviting tenders, the report of the task force on active citizenship was identified as a context within which the study is being undertaken to take forward the commitment in the programme for Government. They key elements of the study are: an overview of the current arrangements for electoral administration; an examination of relevant models of electoral commissions in other countries, taking into account relevant international research; identification, assessment and ranking of options for an electoral commission, including scoping of structure, functions and relationships with other bodies involved in electoral policy and administration; and recommendations concerning approaches to the modernisation and consolidation of legislation in the context of the establishment of the electoral commission and the phasing in of its operations. The outcome of the study will indicate the options in terms of moving forward on the issue.

Regarding the schools programme I referred to earlier, a new parliamentary education programme was launched in October 2007 by the Ceann Comhairle. The programme is being delivered to second level students in schools around the country by Oireachtas personnel. The Ceann Comhairle is visiting schools throughout the country to raise awareness about politics and the importance of voting. Dáil and Seanad Members in the relevant constituencies are invited to join the Ceann Comhairle when he visits schools in each county, and I have no doubt Deputy Stagg has participated in these occasions in his constituency.

The new second level schools programme has been developed in conjunction with CSPE, comprising curriculum representatives from the Department of Education and Science. An initial pilot project will be put in place throughout the country and will be reviewed and expanded. Outreach officers from the Houses of the Oireachtas are presenting this programme and it will be in all schools by next September. By the time of the election to the 31st Dáil, young voters will have received an education about the workings of the Oireachtas which has not been available to any previous generation. The Ceann Comhairle will take the opportunity to speak at conferences and other public events to promote participation in politics and the important work that goes on every day in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

An award winning website, www.oireachtas.ie, contains 3 million pages, every document since the foundation of the State. This important resource will be made more user friendly to further encourage public interest. An enhanced press relations unit will help to better inform the media. The e-democracy programme will foster greater connectivity to the Parliament, accessing information sources on-line and leading to greater understanding and engagement with the parliamentary process. The public can make submissions on matters before Parliament etc. More people will be encouraged to visit Leinster House. At present, some 80,000 people visit Leinster House annually.

The recently published OECD report on the public service includes a full chapter on customer services towards a citizen-centred approach. This includes recommendations on how Ireland's public service might be better integrated and related to the active citizen perspective, and how to make it more user friendly and citizen focused. In this regard, the OECD stressed the importance of making the public service more open to feedback on service policy, planning and delivery. The objective is to match service provision, including delivery channels and service standards, with citizen expectations and needs and to position the public service so that it is able to embrace and utilise the input of citizens. Consultation with customers is the first of the four stages of the customer charter initiatives, the others being commitment, evaluation and reporting.

The issue of consultation with the public and the customers is promoted by the public service management division of the Department of the Taoiseach on an ongoing basis in other ways. In addition to addressing citizens' needs through the various elements of the quality customer service initiative, the better regulation of the Department of the Taoiseach is addressed in a document, Reaching Out: Guidelines and Consultation for Public Sector Bodies. Another recommendation of the task force was that the group insurance scheme open to members of local community and voluntary forums should be promoted widely among relevant organisational groups.

For the benefit of Deputy Stagg, the update in this regard is that the Irish National Community and Voluntary Forum, INCVF, has renewed the group insurance scheme with the existing insurance broker and there is no change to premiums or the level of cover as previously provided. Previously, INCVF published information packs regarding the scheme and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has supported, via local authorities, the dissemination of the information in electronic format.

The next recommendation was an initiative to help community and voluntary organisations meet compliance costs. As regards that matter, as I said earlier, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs provides funding towards the cost of compliance with company law and other relevant legislation to a broad range of organisations in the community and voluntary sector. These include partnership and Leader companies, as well as the community development projects. Provision is also made for compliance costs through grants funded by the Dormant Accounts Fund. Under the new training grants scheme, funding will be available for training in governance, improved accountability, reporting and so on. The Department is also increasing funding to volunteer centres and now funds centres located in Donegal, Galway, Sligo, Limerick, Limerick city, Kerry, Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow, Dublin city south, Tallaght, Cork, Westmeath, Drogheda, Fingal, Dublin city north, west Limerick, south Tipperary and Mayo. The Department is in discussion with the relevant organisations seeking funding for volunteer centres in four other counties. In rolling out funding for these addition centres, the Department is prioritising areas with larger populations having regard to demands for this type of service.

The next recommendation was that funding schemes be strengthened to support capacity development among community and voluntary organisations in the area of training at both national and local levels. The progress on that issue is that the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs supports capacity development and training within the community employment sector through a range of grant supports. For example, the local development programme provides training and education grants through local partnership companies. These companies provide training in community development, capacity building, IT or any other priorities identified by the local community. The community development programme provides premises, development workers and capacity building projects to disadvantaged communities in more than 180 locations throughout the country. These projects are primarily in the most disadvantaged communities. They play a significant role in building community infrastructure and enhancing the capacity of their communities. The Department will shortly advertise a training grant scheme for national and locally based organisations in the community and voluntary sectors. It is anticipated that in excess of €2 million will be made available through this scheme.

The next recommendation was that a programme be introduced in the public service to promote community engagement — Deputy Stagg has the rest of the text of that recommendation. The Civil Service provides special leave, paid and unpaid, in a variety of circumstances, subject to business needs. Special leave is available for specific purposes, such as service with charitable organisations, training with the Defence Forces or call out with voluntary search and rescue organisations and for study for examinations. Opportunities for special needs leave are provided for employees who have been selected to represent their county in various sports. Leave is also provided for volunteer work abroad. In responding to the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship, the Department of Finance determined that the granting of special leave to employees during working hours would require specific regulation. Existing special leave arrangements are subject to formal verification and these criteria also apply to any expansion of the existing programmes.

In terms of recruitment policies and evaluations of job performances, Departments determine the criteria for selection of staff, while the Public Appointments Service undertakes recruitment for the Civil Service in the codes of practice. Central agreements are in place to link the performance management and development system with assessment for promotion.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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With respect, is it in order for the rest of the Minister of State's reply to be included on the record, so that other Members can ask questions?

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The whole lot, lock, stock and barrel will be made available within the next couple of days. I was asked particular questions and I was just responding to the specific requests.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I will try not to make a Second Stage speech, but I have a couple of questions on this very interesting topic. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Carey, is in charge of it because he is one Minister who cares, while many of his colleagues do not. We must endeavour to get some real change in this area. A 2003 initiative on volunteering that gave rise to a Green Paper and a White Paper came before the House, but got nowhere. It just disappeared, so hopefully this will deliver results and real change. On that note, I am glad to see that Ms Mary Nally from County Meath, who has done excellent work, is on the body, along with many others whose names I do not know. What type of powers will the body have to implement or enforce its ideas on change across various Departments?

The use of schools at weekends and so on has been recommended. However, when a developer or a builder approaches the Department of Education and Science to talk about building new schools and having community facilities as part of the same complex, they do not get an open door. We have not really changed our thinking in that regard. Will the Minister of State's group be able to address that aspect so that buildings can be erected that will encompass both education and the wider community for the future? I would welcome the Minister of State's thoughts in that regard.

Does the use of schools extend to the use of school buses? It is fine having these facilities for young people but we cannot get them there. If the travel cost is too high, or someone is needed to take them, it defeats the purpose. We have plenty of school buses that remain parked most nights and at weekends, and during the day as well, and this is a shame. We are not getting good value for money across the board and I would welcome his comments in that regard. I accept he cannot give me all the answers today, but perhaps he could include them in his replies to future questions.

Is the group insurance scheme widely available to all groups? If it is, does the Minister of State believe it is working well or does it need to be changed? Can the group recommend that we provide grants for the day-to-day running of various groups and organisations? It is all very well providing buildings, putting structures in place and giving grants to start-ups but running costs are an issue for many groups of all ages. Can the Minister of State recommend tax breaks for people who want to fund community facilities or for the day-to-day running costs of different groups?

We are talking here about the education of young people in regard to the political system through the schools. That is all very well and I accept great inroads have been made in that area by the Houses of the Oireachtas and by the Department of Education and Science for those still in school. However, a large number of people who have left school received no education on how politics works or on how the system works, whether at local, national or European levels. We all have a duty to sort this. That will lead on to active involvement, active citizenship and active voting in our democracy. That has not really been discussed.

I presume the Minister of State's group will hone in on that area because we must try to address that, whether we have political information centres in all our communities. I suggest using the libraries or post offices and using existing staff to do this. We must get the message out about how politics works and why certain decisions are made. We can bring people along with us on tough decisions if they understand why and how they are made and who makes them but not everyone understands. We are lucky we are in the system so we have been educated as a result. However, for those looking in, it is not that easy for them to figure it out.

This is not only about community and volunteering, although that is a key part of it. We need to get people involved in the community and in volunteering and young people need that help. I presume there is a recognition of the pressures on people which might prevent them from getting involved and volunteering. With time pressures, being stuck in traffic, work commitments and so on, we must realise we need to do much more to give people of all ages time to get involved.

We really need to get people who have more time involved. We will see such people out marching today. Those people have many talents which need to be encouraged and put to better use. I hope the group the Minister of State announced this morning will do that. There are many other areas to which I will return.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate Deputy English's comments. The terms of reference of the group are broadly to drive forward the recommendations of the task force on active citizenship. The steering group I have chosen will reflect a broad range of people who are active in a wide variety of activities. For example, the National Youth Council is represented. Mary Nally is involved and Deputy English well knows of her wide ranging involvement with older people. There is a representative from the philanthropic area, from business, from the GAA and from other organisations to try to pull together the various issues which arise in this debate. I emphasise the active citizenship office has a co-ordinating, facilitating and encouraging function, which is important.

Deputy English spoke about schools and school buses. As long as I have been involved in youth and community work and in politics, that issue has been around. There has been some progress in regard to the use of school buildings. It is not anywhere near what I would have liked but much more progress has been made. The rural transport scheme uses its buses for youth groups. However, I do not believe the issue of school buses has yet been cracked.

I was very anxious to address the issue of day-to-day running costs in the time I was in that Department. A staff team package is being made available through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to help with the management and day-to-day operations of community facilities and so on. It was intended that it would be initially in Leader company areas and in RAPID areas. I understand a number are being operated directly through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

The Deputy talked about how we engage those who have dropped out of the formal education system. The civic forum, which many local authorities have developed over the years, is one way in which such people can become engaged. For example, Dublin City Council, the local authority I know best, has a good project primarily targeting those who have left school and the new Irish who would have had no engagement with the democratic process up to then. These initiatives are being developed.

I am a great believer in the bottom up approach. I do not want the Government telling people that something is good for them and, therefore, they must do it. Some great ideas have come from the ground up. There is also a cross-Border aspect. There is much engagement between areas in Belfast, Dublin and in the west. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Kitt, reminded me of other initiatives. He opened a community library in north Kildare yesterday. Every time I go out I see something new.

I was in Deputy Stanton's constituency a couple of weeks ago launching a tool kit for people involved in trying to further engage people with disabilities in active citizenship and volunteering. Much is being done, some of which is very much under-reported and not recognised. The latest research, although it is a while since it was conducted by the ESRI, shows a dramatic increase in the number of people getting involved in community activity. Believe it or not, one of the highest areas of engagement is in the non-Irish community, although perhaps it is to be expected. That is particularly the case in the universities which have registered with the volunteer centres to get involved in a range of areas. Last year I opened the centre in Kildare which is based in NUI, Maynooth. The volunteers involved in that particular project comprise 60 nationalities and I believe that is replicated in many others throughout the country.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Minister of State has given a very comprehensive reply. Is he, or his Department, aware of the active role the Dublin Docklands Development Authority has played in promoting perhaps the only State integrated active citizenship programme? Would he consider requesting the Dublin Docklands Authority to nominate a person to participate in the group, otherwise he runs the risk of reinventing the wheel? To my knowledge, there is no other organisation which has such an integrated and comprehensive knowledge of active citizenship. I strongly recommend that the Minister of State looks at the work it does and perhaps requests one of its people to join the group. The director responsible for social regeneration is Mr. Gerry Kelly. He could save the group much time by sharing his experience.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am well aware of the work of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. A member of the group I have chosen is the former president of the National College of Ireland, which is based in the docklands area. NCI has a degree programme starting this year on volunteering and active citizenship. I will bear what Deputy Quinn said in mind. It is a very good example of how a statutory body can drive many useful community initiatives.