Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I thank Seanad Members for giving me the opportunity to address the House today on the issue of community affairs. Community issues are central and recurring themes for those of us engaged in public life and public service. We are dedicated to doing what is best for our communities, whether these communities are defined as people bound by geographical areas, by common sectoral interests or by thematic interests. No matter how we describe it, it all comes down to community. I am pleased to have the opportunity to address Senators today on my Department's role in community issues, the programmes and supports we provide and some ideas I am seeking to bring forward in this area.

The deliberate marrying of responsibilities in a single Department - the community and the local government briefs - provides me with an excellent opportunity to deliver more sustainable and practical joined-up services at a local level than otherwise would have been the case. I believe the role of local government is very important here and I will come back to that point in a few minutes.

One of my Department's key objectives is to improve the quality of life and welfare of our communities, with a particular focus on those communities that are vulnerable or disadvantaged. We seek to address this objective through a range of supports that foster vibrant, sustainable and inclusive communities, and which also promote an active, democratic and pluralist society. My Department will invest some €163 million on community and local development in 2011. Of course, much of this is provided as matching funding, which means we leverage substantial additional sums for investment in our communities.

The development of sustainable and vibrant communities is not just about providing funding; the funding provided must be invested wisely. For this reason, we aim to have robust programmes that deliver meaningful outcomes for our communities. We always seek to ensure that the impact of investment under these programmes can be assessed. The Senators will understand that with socially focused programmes, this is not always easy to do. However, if we are to ensure the ongoing sustainability of these programmes and continued investment, it is vital that we are able to demonstrate meaningful impacts for the citizen. I am confident that we are in a position to do so.

The local and community development programme is a key social inclusion intervention managed by my Department, which aims to tackle poverty and social exclusion through partnership and constructive engagement between the Government and its agencies and people in disadvantaged communities. Some €63 million will be invested in our urban and rural communities through the programme this year. Given the current economic crisis and the level of unemployment, the programme is more relevant than ever. It works to increase access to formal and informal educational activities, increase people's work readiness and their employment prospects, and provide a solid foundation for employment creation. The programme as it is now being implemented involves a new and improved approach. It is underpinned by a more focused delivery with the aim of improving employment prospects, with more robust monitoring and evaluation in assessing the impacts for individuals and communities. I am proud to say that international evidence suggests we are leading the way with regard to evaluating the impact of the programme.

The rural development programme, particularly the aspects that support the rural economy and community-focused actions, is another key intervention underpinning my Department's community development ethos. This programme seeks to address the unique challenges facing our rural communities by promoting economic activity, stimulating job creation and improving access to basic services for rural dwellers. Over the full programme period, €425 million will be invested in rural areas through its quality of life measures. Some €62 million of this is earmarked for 2011. Given the straitened times we face, the scale of this investment cannot be overestimated. I believe the support provided through the programme will play a vital role in sustaining and developing dynamic rural communities in the years to come.

Notwithstanding the undoubted impact of these and other programmes over the years, there is room for us to do more and do better. We are facing increasing demands from our citizens for higher quality, more cost-effective and more efficient services against a backdrop of reducing resources. We are also facing demands for greater citizen and community participation in the decision-making process. While resources will continue to be stretched in the coming years, the demand for services is likely to increase.

Accordingly, I have started to examine ways in which we can improve the quality and delivery of services to our communities. I am seeking to maintain the provision of high quality front line services within available resources. I want to examine how we can deliver more integrated and joined-up services in a way that responds more effectively to the needs of our communities, and to determine how to develop our communities in a way that involves the communities themselves in the decision-making process, fosters change and provides people with the means to shape their own futures. The best way to achieve this is through a greater alignment of local and community development functions with local government functions. To assist me in this, I have recently established a high-level alignment steering group to consider options for streamlining the delivery of services for our communities. The steering group has a broad remit: it will review the roles of local development and local government, identify the scope for greater synergies between the sectors, and draft a roadmap for delivering simplified, cost-effective and efficient services for the citizen in a way that allows for local oversight and democratic accountability.

I do not intend to pre-empt the deliberations of the steering group, but for us to deliver on the three key aims I mentioned earlier - improved services, greater efficiency and effectiveness, and an appropriate role for local government - a more democratically accountable and responsible system of local governance is required. It is of key importance that we develop a system that provides an enhanced role for local government in the management and delivery of local and community development functions. To date, local government has been satisfied with a limited role in the provision of services to our communities, focusing primarily on the delivery of housing, water, planning, fire and environmental services, to mention a few. As important as these services are, I am convinced the time has come for local government to take a more proactive role with regard to the social inclusion and quality-of-life aspects of its responsibilities. There is significant scope for local government to broaden its attentions beyond what has been perceived as its traditional sphere of responsibility. Accordingly, I expect to see local government take a more holistic approach to the provision of services to the citizen, take a greater lead in the administration and delivery of community and local development interventions at a local level, and take greater responsibility for local planning and decision making.

Let us not be mistaken about this: there is much work to be done if local government is to develop the capacity it will need to deliver on these expectations. In the past two decades, the gap in service provision at local level has been filled successfully by local development companies, albeit with significant public funding. These companies have a proven track record when it comes to delivering services for their communities. They have been the means through which valuable supports have been delivered to the hardest to reach in our communities. By working closely with the communities they serve, they have developed vital expertise and a unique perspective that local government can learn from. We cannot afford to lose this. It is essential, therefore, that we harness the strengths and experiences of both the local government and the local development sectors and ensure that the best elements of both are retained in any revised local governance arrangements. I am confident that local government can work in partnership with local development structures to deliver efficient, sustainable, joined-up and easy to access services.

Looking forward, our delivery systems need to be efficient and cost-effective and make the best use of available resources. As I stated earlier, a greater role for local government can be the key to achieving this. It is inherently inefficient and ineffective to have local governance arrangements that perpetuate the funding of multiple local development agencies from a significant number of Departments and State agencies for similar, complementary or overlapping objectives. There are questions about the impact on efficiency of these delivery agencies, the ability to effectively measure the impact of resources invested and the administrative cost to the State of sustaining these arrangements.

Notwithstanding the achievements of the cohesion process, which has resulted in a significant rationalisation of local development structures, the sheer scale and complexity of the current structures is still daunting. My aim is to unravel this complexity in order to develop local governance structures that are easy for the citizen to navigate and remove barriers to businesses, allowing economic activity to grow and our communities to prosper.

I am conscious of the importance of the community and voluntary sector to the development of our communities. The economic difficulties facing the country have undoubtedly had a considerable impact on both public funding and private investment from business and individuals to the not-for-profit sector, at a time when the need for services from the sector has increased. Parts of the sector are hugely reliant on State funding, with not-for-profit organisations receiving an average of 60% of their funding from the public purse. Clearly, this is very challenging in the current environment. We have a shared responsibility to support the non-profit sector. However, both philanthropy and fund-raising capacity are underdeveloped in this country, and we lag behind other nations such as the US and the UK in terms of a strategic approach to private investment in the non-profit sector. In particular, there is great scope to increase corporate giving in this country. This is why I reconvened the forum on philanthropy and fund-raising last June. I asked the forum to introduce proposals for a strategy to develop philanthropy and fund-raising in support of civil society, and I anticipate that these proposals will be delivered by the end of this month. There is an urgent need for such a strategy, but also a major opportunity to create new and innovative public-private partnerships to address fundamental social and economic challenges and, in addition, to help support arts and cultural initiatives.

We are fortunate in this country to have a vibrant and diverse community and voluntary sector, with more than 14,000 charities and not-for-profit organisations which contribute to Irish society in myriad ways by providing essential services in areas such as social care, child care, care of the elderly, health services, education, the environment, sport and culture. While we are all aware of the value that these organisations bring to our quality of life, perhaps we do not fully recognise the value of the not-for-profit sector in the economic well-being of our country. The wider not-for-profit sector in Ireland employs more than 100,000 people, which is equivalent to the numbers employed in agriculture. It is estimated that the sector has an annual turnover of €5.7 billion and generates €3.7 billion in wages and salaries per annum. Moreover, funding channelled into the sector goes straight to work in every city, town and parish across the country, boosting local employment and the local economy.

These figures do not include the tens of thousands of unpaid volunteers who make an enormous difference on a daily basis in every parish in the country, from serving on school boards to coaching football teams. For example, the Tidy Towns awards ceremony earlier this year paid tribute to what has become one of the most important environmental initiatives in this country, all driven by an army of volunteers working in 821 cities, towns and villages across the country in co-operation with local authorities as well as local business and tourism efforts.

As many of you are aware, 2011 has been designated the European year of volunteering, and it is appropriate that we pay tribute in this House to the countless active citizens within our communities. These volunteers provide care and support services across the community in large and well-established organisations and in small, informal groupings. They measure their success not by making a profit but by making a difference.

I reaffirm my commitment to supporting our rural and urban communities and the people within those communities. My belief in the resilience of our local communities in the current, difficult economic time has been confirmed and enhanced since I became a Minister. I am committed to securing the resources to ensure our communities will be in the best position to meet the challenges presented with the ingenuity and resourcefulness that exists within them.

The current economic situation will continue to present challenges to our communities but with these challenges will come opportunities to pursue social and community development in a more co-operative, creative, innovative and co-ordinated way throughout the country. By giving our communities the opportunity to have a greater say in decision making at a local level, they will emerge stronger and more sustainable as we continue on the road to economic recovery.