Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I have a couple of words to add to the eloquence of my colleague, Senator Mac Conghail, who proposed the motion and Senator van Turnhout who seconded the motion.

I thank the Minister and his office for engaging so co-operatively with the Independent Senators on the motion, and for the new information provided in his speech. Senator Mac Conghail will comment on it in his concluding remarks. I acknowledge the way in which my colleague, Senator Mac Conghail, approached the Minister, Deputy Hogan, in a co-operative spirit so that we could have a debate in a positive way and that the House would not be divided. The topic is too important for that to happen. There is a crisis and we encourage the Government to respond to it. We are heartened by the response. It is a very good day for the Seanad in terms of the way the business is being conducted on the issue.

Senator Mac Conghail referred to himself as a fund-raiser and philanthropist. All the Independent Members who tabled the motion are fund-raisers. We are all philanthropists too in perhaps a new understanding of that word and we speak from expertise and experience, which is so important. Sometimes when we talk about the importance of the Seanad we refer to drawing on the experience and expertise in such debates. Some of us are art entrepreneurs, others are social entrepreneurs and community development activists but we all bring the experience to the debate. Approximately 25 years ago when I began some of my work with others in the west Tallaght community there were no Government grants for community development, but there were a lot of bake sales and cake sales. There are still many of those and long may they last. It is important that happens. As time went on more and more Government grants came on-stream for work within communities and the arts and eventually a plethora of grants was available in the boom time which seems so long ago now. More recently there was a pull-back in terms of the grants. Both within the arts as well as the community and social sectors we have grown and now there is a pull-back. It is a very important time to look at the issues that are being debated such as the forum on philanthropy and, as Senator van Turnhout described so eloquently, encouraging a new way of understanding philanthropy and giving within this country.

Within the time period of the plethora of grants and eventually the pull-back of same, for such a small country we were fortunate to have two extraordinary philanthropies to join the efforts of those of us who were working within the arts community and social sectors, namely, Atlantic Philanthropies and also the One Foundation. Tom Costello is present this afternoon representing all of his wonderful colleagues in Atlantic Philanthropies. As Senator Mac Conghail said, Deirdre Mortell was present earlier in another forum. The philanthropy organisations and the philanthropists behind them filled a gap and encouraged us to become strategic. They looked for results. They gave us a business model. They led us into the use of a scientific model. They believed in communities and worked with them and with government. What an extraordinary legacy those two philanthropic organisations in particular leave for us as they move forward.

One of the reasons the forum report is so significant ? it is great to hear the Government response ? is because we cannot lose what we have learned through their presence in this country. We must maximise their investment. This country has a unique opportunity to take those lessons forward. This is another way in which we can be a model for Europe. We are poised. We have had this extraordinary investment and the Government is now responding ? not that it had not done so previously ? but this is an extremely critical time as the philanthropies start to leave us.

As the Minister, Deputy Hogan, indicated in his concluding remarks, everyone can be a philanthropist. It has to do with taking the generosity of heart and spirit and using it perhaps in a more planned and strategic way of giving. It does not have to do with the amount one gives. Senator Mac Conghail mentioned legacies. I have left legacies. I hope all Senators have. I did it a couple of years ago. It is great that we have started this debate. It is crucial for the Government to move forward on philanthropy. That is why it is lovely to hear all the things outlined by the Minister and also the suggestions from the other side of the House about ways to move it forward, in addition to the comments of my colleagues.

It is as crucial that we move forward on this issue as it is to move forward on the banks, mortgages and jobs. This is because cultural and social investment lead to economic growth. If there is economic growth without cultural and social well-being, it means nothing.