Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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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.

Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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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-----

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is eating into his colleagues' time.

Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that. When will details of the seed funding be announced? It was in the programme for Government. Also, Rethink was awarded a five-year €4 million contract for delivering social innovation supports without any public tendering. Maybe we could find out, because no other sectoral bodies could apply for it, why the contract was not the subject of a public tender.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I agree with everything my colleague Deputy Donnelly said. We have spoken about this matter in the past. The Minister of State knows my feelings on it. Social enterprises are at the heart of rural and community life. They create jobs and roll out services. They foster innovation, but too often they have been treated as an afterthought by the Government. They have not been given priority and have been left without the enabling mechanisms and investment they need to thrive. What is needed is a change in attitude to recognise their role, reward their contribution and invest in their future and I truly hope that this new strategy will come with the enabling criteria that is required.

There is an exciting example in my county, where communities in the Comaraigh area of County Waterford have come together as part of the Comhar Comaraigh initiative. The latter is a holistic network bringing together villages, towns and townlands, including Annestown, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballyduff, Boatstrand, Bunmahon, Carrickbeg, Clonea Power, Dunhill, Faha, Fenor, Fews, Kill, Kilmacthomas, Kilmeaden, Kilrossanty, Modeligo, Mothel, Newtown, Portlaw, Rathgormack, Stradbally, Touraneena and Kilbrien. It is important to mention all of them, not so as I can rattle off a list of villages in my constituency but to show the breadth of what this community group and this new initiative is trying to do. These communities are pooling resources, sharing their experiences and developing common approaches. They are linking existing social enterprises, such as the Dunhilll Multi-education Centre, the Copper Coast geopark, Kilmacthomas Social Enterprise Group, the Bunmahon community development and, pretty much, every GAA, camogie and ladies' Gaelic football club in the region. They are bringing them all together to harness their innovation and collective strength. Once again, however, Government is behind the curve.

Communities are miles ahead. They are building these networks, finding the solutions and creating the opportunities and it seems Government is not even playing catch-up a lot of the time. Earlier this year, I asked I asked the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to provide pilot funding for a full-time co-ordinator to support this ground-breaking new initiative. Communities cannot run on goodwill, strategies and platitudes. They need sustainable funding. They need support and they need it in a structured and structural way that they can depend on and plan for. The Minister's reply to that simple request, which would not have cost a lot but which would have had a big impact in the area - and possibly across the State if the model gained currency - was that there was no money this year and there probably will not be any next year.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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That is not good enough.

I look forward to the remainder of the debate. I look forward to hearing the contributions of other Members. Hopefully, the strategy, as I said, will be followed by a framework for action.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Social enterprise policy is incredibly important. It is something that we all see in our constituencies. The crucial aspect here is it includes many people and communities that are often very much excluded. If we are serious about it, I ask the Minister of State to look at how we do procurement and how we use social clauses in the context of procurement. The biggest spender in the State is the State. We need to use the resources of the State in our communities in order that there is a knock-on effect in terms of the local economies and these types of enterprises as well.

If we are serious about areas and communities that are excluded, we also need to look at those areas and communities that do not have the basic infrastructure to allow them to have successful enterprises.

I will take the west of Ireland as an example because it is where I know best. If we look at areas like Connemara, the basic infrastructure is literally at breaking point. The Minister of State will see this if he travels across Connemara, where he will see poles tilted to the side and cables on the ground continuously since Storm Éowyn. Renvyle has been without drinking water for two months and it lost electricity for a day. Basic things like this need to be sorted out if we are serious about being able to have social enterprises or any other type of enterprises across the west of Ireland so economies can thrive.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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I am pleased to speak on national social enterprise policy. The purpose of social enterprise organisations is to sustain the social and economic well-being of people living in our communities. They are essential in delivering social inclusion and the provision of opportunities to some of the most marginalised groups in our society, such as the long-term unemployed. Across the State, they represent almost 4% of the workforce, with over 84,000 people in employment, the vast majority of whom are women.

We often talk about economic growth but for many communities, unfortunately, some that I represent, this growth has not produced any real social or economic benefit. My home city of Limerick still has seven of the top ten unemployment blackspots, which is an incredible statistic. We have communities that rightly feel abandoned and isolated from the rest of society. It is in these circumstances that social enterprises have a critical role to play.

One such enterprise group, and there are many more in Limerick, is the Our Lady of Lourdes Community Services group. It provides services and supports to needy people living in the Ballinacurra Weston community and its surrounds. The community is filled with some of the most decent, fun and kind people you would ever know, but it is a community that is socially and economically disadvantaged. The service seeks to help them, and it has become part of the fabric and a place of refuge. It is just one example and there are many more. They offer a wide range of services to users of all ages, from early years education to youth services and an assortment of other benefits, all provided with the needs of the community at the forefront.

There is, however, a sense of foreboding in the four Limerick regeneration communities of Moyross, Ballinacurra Weston, St. Mary’s Park and Southill. This is because a crucial part of the Limerick regeneration programme was the economic and social intervention fund, which supported many social, educational and economic initiatives to strengthen local regeneration areas. There are plans to cut this funding from €4 million annually to €500,000 in 2028. There is great concern that many important community initiatives will end due to lack of funding. This should be a wake-up call for the Government. The Department of housing and local government has stated that the funding should be transitioned to a sustainable model under the auspices of the council. With many community groups and leaders, I am worried that the level of funding needed cannot be sustained without Government support. I am putting this on the record of the Dáil today.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We are all happy that we are having a conversation about national social enterprise policy. However, it is the case that seeing is believing. Like my colleagues, I know there have been many successful but also some unsuccessful social enterprise operations within our constituencies. Some of that is due to the fact that supports and the framework have not necessarily been in place as we would like to see them. In fairness, the Minister of State plans to visit my constituency. Muirhevnamor community centre is one of the places he will be visiting. When we have that sort of community infrastructure, it is a matter of making sure we utilise it. Whether we are talking about training initiatives or social enterprises, as I said, some have been successful and some have not. In some cases, we need to make sure we have not only resources in the sense of the seed money that is necessary, but also what additional supports are necessary to bring these enterprises to a level where they can be successful.

Some of my colleagues noted that this can be a particularly innovative process. Where people have been at a remove from training and employment, these are the type of people that we need go get into this area. We have seen the huge strides that have been taken in regard to education. Lifelong learning has been facilitated to a degree, although there are still some people locked out who we need to facilitate. Whether it is the PLC route or other avenues that offer opportunity, these did not necessarily exist before. If we are serious about this, it will be a case of trying and testing, and doing what we do not always necessarily do, which is to review the policy and then make the changes that are necessary.

George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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I am glad to speak on the issue of Ireland's national social enterprise policy and to reflect on its deeper promise, its transformative potential and the urgent need to elevate it from policy to practice, from vision to reality. This should not be just a policy. It should be a philosophy which says that business can be more than profit, that trade can be rooted in purpose and that communities can be empowered not by charity but by opportunity.

Social enterprises are the quiet revolutionaries of our economy. They are the community cafés that employ people with addiction issues or those disabilities, the recycling hubs that tackle both waste and unemployment and the youth programmes that give hope to those who have been told they have none. They are the organisations that see a problem and build a solution, not for profit alone but for impact. As the document says, social enterprises play an important role in promoting social inclusion and equality, providing supports and employment opportunities to more marginalised groups and minorities, such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, migrants, the Traveller community and former offenders. They can address societal issues, such as food poverty, housing provision and the environment.

With this policy, Ireland has taken a bold step. However, it will only be a bold step if we make a concerted effort to make it work. We have recognised social enterprise as a distinct and vital sector. We have committed to raising awareness, improving access to supports and building capacity. We have acknowledged that social enterprise is not a fringe idea but is central to the kind of Ireland we want to build. Let us be honest, however. We are only at the beginning. This policy is a foundation, not a finish line. It sets the stage but our performance is yet to come.

If we are serious about unlocking the full potential of social enterprise, we must go further. We must be braver and bolder because the challenges are very real. Social enterprises face barriers that traditional businesses do not. They often operate in areas of deep disadvantage, with limited access to capital, infrastructure or skilled labour. They are driven by mission but constrained by resources. We ask them to do more with less. Yet, they persist, they innovate, they uplift and they transform.

I have spoken before in this Chamber about the wonderful Kafe Konnect in Wexford and how it transforms the lives of people and, at the same time, operates a top-class social enterprise in the heart of Wexford town. It is essential that we continue to invest, not just in projects, but in people. Social entrepreneurs are among the most passionate and resilient leaders in our country, but passion alone cannot pay the rent. We need the dedicated funding streams that support start-up, scale-up and sustainability. We need the multi-annual funding models that allow for long-term planning, not short-term survival.

We must also reform procurement. Too often, social enterprises are locked out of public contracts because they cannot compete on price alone. What about value? What about impact? What about the social return on investment? We must embed social clauses into procurement policy so contracts reward not just efficiency but equity. We must build ecosystems. Social enterprises thrive when they are connected to mentors, to investors and to policymakers. I was delighted recently to bring Kafe Konnect together with the Wexford Chamber with a view to it acting as a mentor for the team. Collaboration like this brings so much more than business mentoring. It breaks down barriers and develops relationships and respect that might never have happened. We need regional hubs, incubators and networks that foster collaboration and innovation. We need to ensure that rural social enterprises are not left behind, that minority-led initiatives are uplifted and that every corner of Ireland feels the benefit of trading for impact.

We must also educate. Social enterprise should not be a mystery. It should be a mainstream option. We must integrate it into our schools, universities and business courses. We must inspire the next generation to see business not just as a career but as a calling. We must also measure what matters. Impact is not always visible on a balance sheet but it is felt in lives changed, communities strengthened and hope restored. We need robust frameworks to capture that impact; to tell the stories, prove the value and make the case for continued support because, as we know, the case is very strong.

Social enterprises also create jobs, often for those furthest from the labour market. They tackle social inclusion, rural isolation and environmental degradation. They build community resilience and foster civic engagement. They can be and often are the engines of equality and they do so with dignity. I personally know young women who have found employment in social enterprises in Wexford after years of addiction. There are dozens of people like them who have been given an opportunity, a second chance that they grabbed with both hands. These are not just stories. They are transformations and they are happening every day thanks to social enterprise. Imagine what more we could do with real investment, support and belief. Imagine a country where every town has a thriving social enterprise hub, where every school teaches the principle of ethical business, where every Department embeds social value into its contracts, and where every citizen knows that trade can be a tool for justice. That is the Ireland we must build together because social enterprise is not just the responsibility of one Department. It is the opportunity of every Department. It touches health, education, environment, justice and enterprise. It is cross-cutting, cross-sectoral and cross-community and I am delighted to say that it is growing.

Across Europe, social enterprise is gaining momentum. Ireland must not just follow but can and must lead. We can and must be the country that proves that business can be inclusive, that trade can be transformative and that impact can be the bottom line. Let us not just settle for policy on paper. Let us deliver policy in practice. Let us fund, support and celebrate social enterprise, not as a niche but as a national priority. Let us be remembered not just as the people and the parliamentarians who talked about impact but as the people and the Parliament that traded for it. When we invest in social enterprise, we invest in people, potential and progress. We invest in the women who start sewing co-operatives in their community, the man who turns his prison experience into a mentoring programme for at-risk youth, the young people who build climate solutions from the ground up. When we are doing this, we are investing in this country, in an Ireland that is fairer, greener, kinder and stronger. Today, we must say to all social entrepreneurs that we see them, believe in them, stand with them and, most of all, invest in them. Let us act, lead and trade for impact.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Today, I want to talk about something that I firmly believe in and have worked in. I have seen the effort involved in our own communities. The Minister of State has been leading on this since taking up his position in recent months. I have met him a number of times in north Kildare and know that he has been all around the country because he believes in what he is doing. He believes in the importance of social enterprises and in this Trading for Impact project. I met him in Clane and he will be coming to Lullymore soon in the context of working with social enterprises. I have been involved in social enterprises myself that came in different guises. We have spoken here about community centres and cafés. I have been involved in my local community centre in Leixlip and have seen the benefit of it. I was chairman for a number of years. The centre was started in the community 40 years ago and now has a number of employees. It has provided some people with work opportunities that they may not have otherwise had. Others gained work experience there and moved on to career paths. That is what is enabled in community centres around the country.

Specific groups like the Clane Project Centre have delivered something way beyond their initial capability through fundraising initially, followed by good investment decisions. They have been able to give to their community in a number of different ways. They have helped other local groups by taking them under their umbrella. Groups like the Clane Men's Shed, whose members met the Minister of State, have been able to utilise the vision, wisdom and effort of the people who started the Clane Project Centre a number of years ago. McAuley Place in Naas is another good example. It has looked after the elderly and other vulnerable groups who need care. Another example is the Mill in Celbridge, which provides a forum for various groups, including sports clubs and community groups, to utilise its facilities.

I recognise the difficulty of what we are trying to do as well as how difficult it can be to grasp what we are trying to do. In essence, most of these groups come from the ground up but we are trying to put a policy in place from the top down, from the Government. We are trying to encapsulate and direct what people do on the ground, in the community. Ultimately, that will be very hard, if not impossible, to deliver. What the Minister of State is trying to do with this policy is to put guidelines in place for people. That will bring its own complications because not every group has the skill sets required, whether that is in relation to financial support, financial knowledge, fundraising ability or how to deal with children in the case of a youth club, for example. All of those things require very specific skill sets and we need to ensure, through this policy document, that local groups know what to refer to or where to go to ensure they are going in the right direction. Ultimately, what we are dealing with is ordinary people in their communities who see a gap, who see that something needs to be put in place and who go out to fix it. They are not going to have all of the solutions and that is where the Government has to come in. That is what the Minister of State is attempting to do with this policy document. By learning from others, we can help new people to get involved.

On Monday, I was lucky to go to Kildare town to meet members of the Kildare LEADER partnership, including Tara Lane and Rioana Mulligan. They were setting things up for lots of other groups to learn about where they could potentially avail of funding. The LEADER group in Kildare has been very innovative in terms of how it deals with social enterprises. The Minister of State will going to Lullymore soon to speak with members of the Kildare LEADER group.

I grew up in an urban area but I know that social enterprises can fit in especially well in rural areas, where services and businesses might not be operating to the scale they could be. We see people in these areas getting fully behind the enterprise. In a growing region like north Kildare, we do not necessarily have all of the facilities we need. We have housing but we do not necessarily have all of the other facilities that we need. Social enterprises can be tailored and can provide community solutions that larger organisations or the Government cannot get involved with initially. The Trading for Impact policy is about unlocking the full potential of social enterprise. This is not about charity. It is about supporting those groups, funding those groups and ensuring that the people involved can be drivers of sustainable jobs, inclusion and innovation in their communities. Ultimately, without those people and without some policy direction, communities will be left behind. We must also be conscious of the fact that not every community or sector will have those people - they just might not be there - and that is when we must ensure that we look for and fill the gaps in different areas using a more top-down approach, when effort is not coming from the ground up. We need to ensure that social enterprises provide employment for people. I have seen the benefit of this for people who are long-term unemployed or for migrants who are new to an area and want get involved in the locality. Social enterprises can be key in that regard.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this. I welcome the work done on it and the Minister of State's effort. I can see the hands-on approach to what he is doing. I thank him for his time in listening to the points I have made. I know he will continue to engage with me on areas of north Kildare, and indeed, if there is any way I can assist him on the national policy, I would be more than willing to do so too. I thank him for his time today.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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I am delighted to have this opportunity and a little surprised that there is not more interest from speakers across the House on this really important issue. I will cover some of the things we talk about when we think about what a social enterprise is, the contributions they make to society and to our economy and then some of the gaps that I believe still exist in this strategy. I really welcome that the Minister of State has invited from us those suggestions and I trust that he will give them adequate deliberation and consideration.

What is a social enterprise? It is worth going back to brass tacks on this because everybody has a different understanding of it. They are businesses that operate as a business but to achieve a social, societal or environmental impact. This allows them to contribute positively to the community in ways a normal business simply cannot. They can prioritise affordability, giving employment to those who are usually excluded by the labour market or demonstrating that businesses can be eco-friendly.

I have had the privilege over the course of my career of working in the corporate sector and in the public sector. I have worked with social enterprises, NGOs and civil society in providing consultancy directly into them and overseeing funding streams and support programmes to build them up and allow them to flourish. This is, therefore, a concept I have thought a lot about over the course of my career. I still think that, unfortunately, a lot of this Government's policies are informed by a reliance on a private sector, for-profit model of business. I still think that, as a society, we hold a binary view that it is either that or a charity and there is no in-between. Social enterprises are therefore crucial in bringing about a level of sophistication of thinking about how we can combine businesses, but ones that are more sustainable, that serve our communities better into the future and where we can actually see their societal impact.

Even today I was in the audiovisual room looking at a presentation about employee ownership trusts. They are facing tax barriers to even just allowing for that worker-management model within normal businesses. Earlier this afternoon, I spoke on Leaders' Questions and Questions on Policy or Legislation to ask about the multi-annual funding that so many organisations in our civil society are crying out for as well as for core funding. We still see these organisations as charitable organisations that do good in society but which we should be grateful for rather than seeing them as viable organisations that provide crucial State services, public services, seirbhísí poiblí, that we all rely on day to day up and down the country. They contribute to society and form a vital part of our community. I often hear from constituents in my area, for example, about the frustrating lack of spaces in our communities for people to come together, to socialise, to interact, without spending loads of money.

One of my favourite social enterprises has taken that challenge head-on. I will use it as an example of what we really value in a social enterprise. Third Space is a café in Smithfield that was founded by Sean Mullan and which provides affordable food in an increasingly gentrified area, an area in north-inner-city Dublin which is just lacking that third space. That is what it is named after. We have workspaces and dwelling spaces but we no longer have community spaces to come together. That is what Third Space is, and not only that, but it also provides employment to those who might otherwise find it harder to get employment. It works with NGOs and community and voluntary organisations within the area to help it fundraise. It has a square meal programme whereby everybody comes along and pays what they think that meal is worth and everything goes towards that charity. It does so much to bring about a sense of community in a space that is otherwise starved of it. It provides great food, great service and that space for artists, community groups, musicians and many more to come together. These spaces reduce antisocial behaviour, reduce loneliness and promote healthier, more vibrant communities. The whole community benefits from this, whether or not they engage directly with a social enterprise or not. Tá siad fite fuaite inár bpobal, agus caithfimid tacú leo.

Often overlooked when we speak about social enterprises, though, is their contribution to the economy. That is, I think, because we still have that mindset of charity, particularly as they do not fall under the Department of enterprise. They are extremely valuable to our economy. Those who work in this sector form part of our income-based tax, a tax base that is much more stable than corporation tax. The money spent in this sector and any surpluses generated go directly back into our local communities instead of feeding offshore corporations or sitting in shareholder investment accounts around the world. In sectors which face issues around high costs, pricing out consumers and squeezing wages, social enterprises offer the possibility for cheaper prices for consumers and better wages and conditions for workers because they do not constantly place profit margin above their social purpose - all this while they continue to run viable businesses. There is also huge opportunity for the State, which often pays a high price for corporate profits in public procurement, to save taxpayer funds by having more contracts with social enterprises.

I welcome this strategy and I believe it contains many worthwhile aims and commitments. We see a very important shift in formalising and consolidating supports, providing new finance tools and pushing for the visibility of social enterprises. Under this strategy, however, we are still not yet seeing that crucial pivot away from short-term grant-dependent supports. For any business and enterprise, this makes it incredibly difficult to scale its work, to ensure that it will continue to operate and to aspire to its full potential. By contrast, we have a much more sophisticated structure around other businesses and supporting their viability and longevity. Particularly disappointing is that social enterprise is not mentioned at all in the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity. It is a missed opportunity when social enterprises can be both productive and extremely competitive, just not the traditional model of what we think of as an enterprise. I would encourage much closer collaboration with the Department of enterprise as we are really missing out on huge potential benefits in this area. On this strategy, we need to do much more to change the system to sustainable, long-term, diversified funding, including through public procurement. If we build capacity in this sector, we all stand to benefit as communities, taxpayers and consumers.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive statement and for setting it out. I welcome that. I also welcome the policy, which is just the second policy on this in the history of the State. The first policy started in 2019. Significantly, that was the year we promised transformative action and declared a climate and a biodiversity emergency. We never really got that transformative action. I will look at this first and ask maybe some practical questions and then go back to pick up on some of the themes the last speaker spoke about.

The policy was launched a year ago and it has taken us almost longer, a year, to discuss it, which is significant in itself. It is 58 pages long and contains five key objectives and 57 actions. I welcome that there is a stakeholder engagement group to provide oversight. Has that stakeholder engagement group met? If so, how many times has it met? Are minutes available? It is stated that an annual report will be published on the implementation. Has an annual report been published? It is over a year since the strategy was published. Where is the annual report?

Picking up on the previous speaker's contribution, we were promised transformative action, and that transformative action really has not come. I am very positive about this strategy but I am worried about its implementation and about it being sidelined to the main growth economy that results in business as usual. We know from Covid and from the climate emergency that we cannot continue with the same model, with endless growth for growth's sake. There is a complete difference between a growth economy and a thriving economy. The social enterprise and the strategy that the Minister of State has outlined here are not just a small part of that; they have to be a fundamental part of it. It is interesting that we had no figures until 2023, when his Department rightly commissioned a report on the data. It took until 2023 to get that. That gives an indication of how little value we put on social enterprise. That research told us that there were 4,335 social enterprises nationally. The total income of social enterprises in 2021 was €2.34 billion. Almost 85,000 people are employed by social enterprises.

That is 3.7% of the Irish workforce. There is huge scope for an increase in the number of people employed. There are also the volunteers who work alongside them, nearly 75,000, without whom social enterprises could not succeed. Women make up the vast majority, at almost 70% of the total workforce in social enterprises, with 68% concentrated in four sectors: child care, which is dominated by women; community infrastructure and local development; health, youth services and social care; and heritage, festivals, arts and creative industry. All of these areas are vital to a thriving economy. Some 75% of social enterprises focus on a local market. In rural areas, 84% focus on a local market. Last week or the week before - I am losing track of time and dates - I was with the Talamh Beo group, which grows sustainably. Its members pointed out to me that there is no policy for sustainable growth in that manner where they supply the local community, local areas and local businesses. That is a gap. The social enterprise expansion and development, SEED, allocation needs to be looked at and worked on as well. Most staff are employed under community employment schemes or Tús. There have been repeated efforts to reduce the money and importance paid to Tús community employment schemes and rural schemes, which work with very little money and struggle from year to year. I would like to see a transformative change under the Minister of State's watch. He made a good attempt with a very good opening statement. I would like to see it mean something. Transformative action is required so that our rural communities can survive.

A point was made earlier by my colleague in Galway West, Deputy Farrell, about Carraroe having no infrastructure. One might ask what that has to do with social enterprise but if there is no sewage treatment plant to allow houses to be built and for small enterprises to develop, we are in serious trouble. Social enterprises can only come along with basic infrastructure. We have wonderful examples of social enterprises in Galway such as the Galway Artisan Workshop and Bounce Back Recycling in Ballybrit, which does mattress and furniture recycling. Twenty-five years ago, there were presentations in relation to recycling mattresses and many other materials that were never put into action. I welcome that this is happening but the people were way ahead of us in Galway city. We have Galway Online Community Radio, which is really important as a social enterprise. It aims to give ethnic minorities a voice in Irish media. We also have the SCCUL Sanctuary in Clarinbridge - I cannot read them all out - An Mheitheal Rothar and the Galway Community Circus. There is the Green Bean Café in Athenry. All over the islands, there are examples of co-operatives working together for energy or to organise the various schemes that keep the islands going.

The previous speaker said it better than me: my worry is that this is simply looked on as a sideline or an addition. Labour activation schemes are talked about in such narrow terms. Private companies are brought in that should have nothing to do with social enterprises or labour activation schemes. We have seen what happened in England. We put an emphasis on narrow criteria and do not value what social enterprises do for the environment in relation to the sustainable goals, which were laid out by the UN, which we all treasure and must comply with. They have to be mentioned at every opportunity.

I praise the opening statement but I would like to see a hands-on approach. I would also like to see the annual report or a date for it and the published oversight minutes. There have been so many strategies and plans in so many areas without any accountability or constant review. Most of all, I would like to see economists, who treasure their role as economists, put a value on the matters they have put no value on, social enterprise being top of the list. An economy cannot thrive without carers being paid properly. Again, it is dominated by females. The cost of domestic violence to the Exchequer has never been valued. At a conservative estimate, it is €2.5 billion. One might rightly ask what that has to do with social enterprise. It has everything to do with this male-dominated economic view - I apologise; some males - of valuing certain aspects of an economy and ignoring the really important aspects that are never given an economic value.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on social enterprises. I welcome the Minister of State's opening statement. It is important that we support social enterprises. I will highlight some of the great work in my constituency to emphasise the valuable work happening across Mayo. One example is the Kilmovee community housing centre. It is a small community but the social enterprise there is doing tremendous work. It is an approved housing body, runs social homes in the community, provides meals on wheels, runs after-school clubs and promotes heritage activities. It also supports young people with a homework club. It runs a Thursday club where it offers hot meals and bingo to senior citizens. In an age when we are trying to combat social isolation, this type of work in our communities is important. It has also done great work on the AstroTurf in the community. The loop walk is a huge asset. There are plans for ten more houses in the area as well as a group home. I commend the great work of the manager, Trisha Duffy, and Tommy Horan, the chairperson of the board, who has done tremendous community work. During the storm, Tommy Horan, a number of other people and I delivered hot meals to people in the community without power. Without these types of social enterprises, the local knowledge of elderly people, senior citizens and vulnerable people would be lost. These organisations are under constant and significant financial pressures. I welcome the Minister of State's opening statement and his commitment to this sector. I will work with him to ensure this happens and is felt on the ground. I also commend the work of Sheila Hunt, the former manager in Kilmovee, who laid the foundations for the great work that has happened.

Closer to my own area is Brickens Meals on Wheels, another social enterprise. It is a fantastic organisation run by the wonderful Lorraine Lowry. Brickens is the epicentre of hundreds of meals on wheels that go out to elderly and vulnerable people across my part of Mayo. It does tremendous work. During the storm, the organisation was at the front in assisting people in the worst number of weeks at that time. Eugene Waldron, a local engineer, was and remains a driving force behind Brickens Meals on Wheels.

Clár IRD runs social homes and assists elderly people, senior citizens and vulnerable people in the Claremorris area. Indeed, it administers and assists with the warmer homes scheme as well, which is a very important aspect of its work. Clár IRD should be commended on the great work it does.

I draw the Minister of State's attention to the great work taking place in Mayo Abbey, a small community that is producing some wonderful activities. The training centre in Mayo Abbey is a force for young people and all types of people in terms of the activation of the labour market. It is doing wonderful work with its organic centre, social homes and so on. Another wonderful organisation is Castlebar Social Services, which is doing tremendous work delivering hundreds of meals across the Castlebar area. I met people from the organisation recently in Buswells Hotel. They talked about the financial pressures they face. Balla Community Centre is the hub of its community. It is a wonderful area and community. Balla Community Resources Development is doing tremendous work in Balla as well.

There are many other such organisations right across Mayo. One of the major issues they consistently raise is to do with the community employment scheme, the rural social scheme and the Tús scheme. The Minister of State is from a rural constituency and will be very familiar with those schemes. The issue consistently raised is that it is particularly difficult to get individuals onto the schemes. We are in an economy of full employment, which must be mentioned as a factor. However, there is a significant issue also in terms of the money. The threshold needs to be increased because it is simply not enough to ensure these schemes are viable. People on the RSS, Tús and CE schemes do tremendous work. They are the people preparing meals on wheels, cleaning our graveyards and cleaning the streets. It is really important work but we are not offering them enough to stay on those schemes. I spoke recently to a man who is on one of the schemes and was doing great work in the local cemetery. However, notwithstanding the additional money for being on the scheme, he was losing money by the time he drove to the different locations where he is required to work. That needs to be addressed. In Ballindine, the Meals on Wheels service had to close recently, one of the reasons being manpower issues. The fundamental factor was that the service could not find individuals to recruit onto the schemes. I believe the Minister of State is sincere in wanting to support these wonderful organisations. The manpower factor is a fundamental part of addressing these issues. These organisations have staff but a huge bulk of their work is done by individuals on the CE scheme, RSS and Tús.

When wage increases happen, when there are improvements to employment and so on, the social enterprises do not receive additional funding from central government. That places significant pressure on them and it needs to be addressed. These organisations are doing tremendous work and they must be protected and supported. We cannot afford to lose the wonderful organisations that are the glue in our communities.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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I am delighted to contribute to these statements. There are great examples of social enterprise organisations throughout the country, all of which are doing fantastic work, including Offaly Local Development Company in my constituency of Offaly. The company, which we in the county are fortunate to have, supports voluntary groups and individuals all across Offaly who are already running or thinking of setting up a social enterprise. These supports come in many formats, from individual staff or board member mentoring guidance to the provision of facilitated relevant training, information or networking opportunities that enhance the skills of those involved in a project. I encourage all my constituents who are thinking of setting up a social enterprise to contact Offaly Local Development Company or go to its website. It has already played a significant and important role in respect of Birr swimming pool, Pullough Community Shop, Moneygall Community Gym and a Meals on Wheels programme that serves south and west Offaly. One of the main supports it provides is assisting in the accessing of local and national financial supports such as grant applications. This can be very useful and helpful for groups of people thinking of setting up a social enterprise. It is a vitally important service. As we know, trying to access finance is one of the most time-consuming and challenging aspects of getting anything done at community level. It is great that we have the benefit of Offaly Local Development Company to assist.

I was interested to note some facts about social enterprises that really highlight their ongoing value and importance in all our communities, particularly rural communities. Of the 4,300 social enterprises nationally, 43% are based in rural areas, where they support a significant employment contribution. That factor is really significant. It is so important that we protect and maintain these enterprises in rural Ireland. They are predominantly composed of women, who represent 69% of the total number employed in social enterprises. These facts are valuable insights into the very positive role social enterprises play in many rural communities such as my own in County Offaly. It is absolutely vital that we support the great work these social enterprises are doing. We must ensure they remain active and are financed and supported in every way possible.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Members for their contributions. Deputy Nolan is right that we must support social enterprises. That is the fundamental point and it is what I will do as Minister of State.

Deputy Donnelly spoke about Rethink Ireland. It was formerly Social Innovation Fund Ireland, SIFI, which was established by the then Government in 2012 to set up a €100 million fund in collaboration with philanthropists. Its establishment was a commitment on foot of a recommendation in the report of the Forum for Philanthropy and Fundraising. The contract the Deputy mentioned is fulfilling that commitment and, as the target is being reached, the amount is being reduced accordingly.

Again, I thank Deputy Donnelly and other Members for their contributions to this very exciting debate. We all agree on the need for a shared ambition and vision for the social enterprise sector. I will be happy to visit any of the places the Deputies mentioned. I look forward to going there with them. These social enterprises are good news stories. They are absolutely fantastic and the people one meets there are phenomenal. I do not share the view that some in the Chamber have expressed regarding private enterprise. This is about giving people an opportunity and revitalising and empowering them.

Deputy Donnelly spoke about supporting social enterprises to flourish and Deputy Nolan made the same point. Their contributions are the bookends in this debate and that point is what we must be about in a circular-economy world. Deputy Donnelly and I might disagree on many things but he is 100% right on this. As Minister of State, working with the officials in my Department, I am very clear on the importance of social enterprises and the gargantuan positive impact they have on communities across the country. Deputy Donnelly was half joking about the washing machine analogy but that is where we are at.

Deputy Connolly spoke about mattress recycling, painting, cafés and culture. All of that is positive for our country. The Deputy has left the Chamber but she asked about the minutes of meetings of the stakeholder engagement group.

The minutes of the first meeting have been approved and the second meeting has been held. The minutes have been uploaded on gov.ie.

I have taken notes of Deputies' contributions. I will go around the country. I will be up with Deputy Ó Murchú in County Louth in a couple of weeks. The points made today are valid and pertinent. I will take them on board, particularly those relating to procurement. That is one we need to look at further.

It is clear from today’s statements that there is an immense impact in our communities. We are talking about are businesses, but I have to disagree with Deputy Gibney. They are businesses with a heart, a social conscience and a social consciousness. That challenges everybody. They are transformative. The policy will be supported. It is about opportunity. I recognise their importance to our communities. I was involved in the community network before I became a politician. I understand the clear pathway that exists.

We can look at the impact social enterprises had on our communities during Covid. Deputy Lawless mentioned Storm Éowyn. These enterprises delivered services, hot meals, connectivity and vital supports in challenging times for the people who needed them most. During his tour of Mayo, the Deputy forgot to mention Ballina Costume Company, which pivoted from being a costume-making and rental company to being a producer and supplier of protective clothing for use in hospitals and care homes. That was done with no thought of a reward; it was just the right thing to do.

It is more important than ever that we in government deliver for people. That is why the programme for Government contains a commitment to support the vital role of social enterprise, recognising its value to local economies and society in general. It is my intention, working with all in this House and my colleagues in government, to deliver on that commitment through the implementation of the Trading for Impact social enterprise policy, which will provide critical support for people. Deputy Donnelly is right. Opportunity to make a real difference in our communities is what this is about. I stand for that.

The policy is a blueprint for sustainable growth in the sector in the coming years and is a testament to all the people and organisations who contributed to its development. I congratulate everybody involved in the social enterprise space for the many long hours of dedication and hard work that make this policy a real, lived reflection of this sector every day. It is more ambitious in scope than the first policy and will help to cultivate and sustain a strong and impactful social enterprise sector, one that will enrich the social, environmental and economic well-being of our communities.

The considerable outreach undertaken in developing the policy was worthwhile. As a result of the stakeholder engagement that occurred, we know, as part of the policy, what people want and what we can accomplish. The objectives of these engagements identified for inclusion in the policy are truly important and fitting as the sector continues to develop. The hard work begins now: putting in money and support and keeping the priority there. I look forward to working with the policy stakeholder engagement group and its various subgroups and delivery partners who will oversee delivery of the policy and who have already started work on that.

As I visit social enterprises across the country, I see thriving, sustainable organisations adding billions to our economy while helping and supporting people and working to create a better world and better communities. I look forward to further concrete evidence, details and data collection. I am a big believer in data collection and impact measurement, which is not about reducing programmes but about targeting and getting things right for people.

I do not know what some people are saying, but I do not believe it can be denied that my Department continues to invest considerable resources in the growth and development of the sector, not only through the Dormant Accounts Fund but also through current funding. This funding will continue to be directed at growing and developing the capital supports required by enterprises, as well as soft supports such as capacity building, leadership development, strategic planning and increasing readiness for more mainstream financial supports to help these companies grow and prosper.

I am proud of the support my Department gives the development of these enterprises which do much to help our communities. We are all familiar with the CSP projects operating in communities throughout Ireland, as well as the SICAP and LEADER programmes, and the impact they are having. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are mindful of the significant support provided by other policies under the remit of our Department - the volunteering strategy, the philanthropy strategy and the broader rules strategy - which provide a strong foundation to help enterprises to thrive.

I will continue to work with people in the sector. As I travel across the country, I look forward to continuing my work. I attended the Dublin City Council Social Enterprise Awards ceremony a couple of weeks ago. I was struck by the fact that eight social enterprises were recognised. They are thriving and bringing life-changing opportunities to their communities and people. They often provide opportunities where none previously existed. I want to continue to work with people. I will travel to the National Social Enterprise Awards in October. I will engage at the national annual conference in Ballinasloe in November.

As we conclude proceedings, we can agree, I hope, that the debate has been positive. There are challenges and issues raised that we must look at. As a Minister of State in the Department, I look forward to figuring out solutions, working on the problems and meeting with and hearing from people first hand.

Our social enterprise policy represents an ambitious step forward in the Government’s ongoing commitment to social enterprise. As Minister of State with responsibility in this area, I am, along with the Minister, committed to ensuring support continues and grows in a targeted way, led by the actions contained in Trading for Impact. I look forward to seeing the impact these enterprises have on our people and communities. I also look forward to working with every Member of the House. I again thank Members for their contributions.