Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for coming to the House. I commend the Independent Senators on tabling this motion as it shows they are well aware of the difficulty associated with working in the not-for-profit sector. Those involved in the sector are enriching communities in the arts and social enterprise area.

I propose to focus on the concept of giving back through philanthropy. My first formal experience with philanthropy was in 2012 when Galway hosted the Volvo Ocean Race. I was asked by many people to seek additional funding for the event and to be fair to the Minister, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, he obliged through a new philanthropic approach adopted in his Department. Under this approach, the Department agreed to provide funding for events if the organisers could show they had been able to raise a certain amount. A specific ratio was used - I believe it was 1:5 - under which the organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race would receive approximately ¤20,000 if they raised ¤100,000. While I consider the ratio to be too low, as a concept, this approach is correct and we are on to something good.

Senator Ó Murchú asked how we would sell this concept. We will not have any problem selling it in the current environment, provided we raise public awareness of it and acknowledge the events or groups that are receiving the benefits.

Philanthropy could be, not just as good as a bank, because I am not too impressed with the banks at the moment, but better than any bank if we get the right structures in place and incentivise it correctly. There are two types of donors. The first are the very big, generous donors, some of whom have been mentioned, like Atlantic Philanthropies. That organisation has a strategic plan in place around philanthropy and has, as Senator Zappone pointed out, taught us all so much. The second group is the small donors who are just as important, if not more so.

We had a public consultation session in this very Chamber recently, spear-headed by me, Senator Mac Conghail and Senator Quinn, involving discussions with the One Foundation, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Ashoka and Women for Election on the topic of helping communities to help themselves. It was acknowledged during that session that everyone needs a bit of funding along the way. One of the most interesting things to emerge from that day, which I am exploring at a legislative level, is the concept of crowd funding, which involves the setting up of a type of social bank. As an individual, one might have ¤50 to give to a good cause but one does not know whether the cause is genuine or that the money will be used productively. The idea is that the individual would lodge that money in a crowd funding bank. That bank would then fund a certain number of worthy projects every year. I want to explore this concept further and would be delighted if any of my colleagues would join me in that exploration. We must bring forward many mechanisms to encourage people to give in a structured way so they know their money is going to a cause or project that is worthy. It would be very easy to sell this concept if it was accompanied by tax breaks and a range of other incentives.

I ask the Minister of State to bring this idea to his Cabinet colleagues because in these times, we need to use every available methodology to leverage money. As others have said, we live in a country of haves and have-nots. One half of our people have no money left at the end of every week while the other half have savings. There is in excess of ¤100 billion in savings in this country. What can we do to leverage some of that money? That is the question. If we could leverage it and then direct it into worthwhile projects, that would be wonderful.

At the moment I am trying to develop a young creators centre in Galway. I have done a feasibility study and invested personal funds in it. I have also received some funding from Leader, for which I am very grateful. To get this young creators centre, which will be built around areas of need, up and running, I need to access more money. I have a voluntary committee that will give time but who among us has the funding to be able to sign on the bottom line to draw down money for a building and to operate programmes? None of us has it right now but I am not giving up because I know the concept is good. We have so many young people in this country who are not adequately served by the education system. While we have a great education system, we need to run on twin tracks. We need to find a means to harness young people's creativity and innovative capacity. That must be done from senior primary school right the way through second level. Our children are still making relatively poor choices going into third level because they are not sure what they want to do. That is because they have not had enough experience in the various areas they might like. It is for that group of young people that I want to develop a creative centre. If we could fund that, we might also be able to roll it out as a model for the country. In the context of educational projects, I say well done to the likes of Atlantic Philanthropies and George Soros, who have done incredible work in eastern Europe and countries with very low literacy levels.

Senator Cullinane argued that this motion is not holding the Government to account, but I disagree. We have started the process of raising awareness and we are putting on the record of this House that this is a good concept. We are working together. It is time to celebrate good ideas and this is a brilliant idea. Let us find ways to incentivise it and structure it. We must look at the concept of crowd funding, which seems inherently good. I thank Senators Mac Conghail and van Turnhout for tabling the motion.