Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If one does not have enough money to run a given business, one does not need the same number of staff. Redundancies are required and it will all depend on budgets. Ultimately, it will all depend on the precise sum we receive under the Common Agricultural Policy.

I have said to the representatives of the Irish Leader Network, whom I met yesterday, that we should work together to determine how we could reach an agreement on the establishment of the socioeconomic committees within local authorities and the role the local government sector would have in respect of community involvement. We will be meeting again in a few weeks to examine this issue. We will be meeting after we know what the budget is for the next round of Leader funds, and also after we know what the answers are to a number of questions on the alignment process I initiated a year ago.

The local government system and the local and community sector will have to forge alliances more than ever before to ensure the survival of the local development sector in some areas. The community sector will require local authorities to help it. It is incumbent on local authorities to be more proactive in ensuring the community sector is developing in their areas.

As I travel around the country, I am very much aware that some county managers do not embrace the community and voluntary sector in the way they should and have not done so during the years. I will challenge and urge them to forge the necessary links and relationships with it.

Only a finite sum of money will be available. Let us determine how we can work together to ensure the community programmes survive in so far as this is possible. Let us also ensure the local government sector will be available to help the community sector to administer the schemes more than ever before.

I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing me to make these points.