Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am responding to this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan. I agree with the comments of the Senator on community development and community fora and the work they do in the co-ordination of various groups in areas desperately in need of such input. I share the concern that sometimes, when there is a louder argument, the smaller argument gets lost. It is important we do not lose sight of the smaller part of the puzzle.

I will briefly provide the Seanad with some background information on the community and voluntary fora and then discuss the funding provided for the fora by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Community and voluntary fora were established in each city and county, in association with the establishment of the county and city development boards in 2000. The fora have facilitated the community in making an input into the work of the boards and local government generally, as well as having representation on the local authority strategic policy committees, joint policing committees and many local development companies.

The White Paper on supporting voluntary activity in 2000 provided that funding would be made available through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to support the fora. The funding is used to support the fora in organising meetings, communicating information and providing capacity building and training for forum members, particularly those representing the socially excluded. In deciding the distribution of funding to the fora, criteria were developed by the Department to ensure counties with smaller populations receive a reasonable amount while also catering for the bigger and more populated counties and cities. As set out in the National Recovery Plan 2011-2014, current economic circumstances mean public expenditure has had to be substantially reduced across Departments, agencies and programmes. As a result, there were competing demands for very scarce resources from a range of genuine interests and difficult decisions had to be made. The priority in these circumstances is to limit, to the greatest extent possible, the impact of expenditure reductions on essential services on those most in need. In this context, a review of the funding made available to the fora from the Department's vote was necessary and unavoidable.

Following the review, a commitment was made that the community and voluntary fora would continue to be supported and a provision of ¤600,000 was provided in the Department's Vote for 2012 to support the fora in each county and city council area. The funding is in addition to the financial support provided by local authorities for the participation by fora representatives on county or city development boards, strategic policy committees and joint policing committees.

Waterford City Community Forum was allocated funding of ¤11,213 by applying the criteria developed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government which are based on population census results. At this stage the Minister cannot give a commitment to any individual organisation regarding budgets for 2013. He will, however, endeavour to make the best possible use of the resources available.

I am sure the Senator would not have expected any commitment at this point in the budgetary process. The Minister is very much aware of the value of community fora.