Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and I also welcome the fact that the House is giving this issue a further airing. The Minister launched this campaign in June 2013 and the campaign is now being giving greater publicity. The radio advertisements to which Senator Ó Murchú referred are giving the people of Ireland a greater understanding of the campaign. Irish people have a long tradition of giving to charity but this is usually done in a sporadic fashion. We have donated in a reactive way rather than in a regulated way. I agree with the previous speaker on the point that Irish people are not comfortable with the notion of "philanthropy". I always associate philanthropy with America rather than with Ireland. However, the Irish people give generously in comparison to other countries. A total of 89% of Irish people have given to charities but only on a sporadic basis. We need to change that mindset. Only 15% of Irish people make regular donations to charity while across the water in the UK, 36% of people donate on a regular basis. Senator Ó Murchú also referred to corporate donations. The Irish level of corporate donations is at only 1%, a very low level. I will give an example from my own area. Merck Sharp & Dohme is based outside Carrick-on-Suir. That company gives a phenomenal amount of money to the local community. I do not have a figure but practically every local organisation gets money in some shape or form from that company. I would like to see a marrying of the local donation and the local community benefit under The One Percent Difference, in order to make a difference.

Seamus Mulconry is the head of Philanthropy Ireland and he spoke recently about the amount of money which it is hoped to be raised by this project. He said we need to raise €800 million by 2016. That seems to be a significant amount of money but with the corporate donation level at 0.1% of pre-tax profits it is not such a great amount of money when one takes into the amount of money earned by foreign direct investment companies and traditional and indigenous companies. In my view the plan is very achievable and I commend the Minister on his work. More work is needed in the communities on this issue. We need to show local businesses how they can enhance their business. Senator Ó Murchú referred to the weather forecast advertisement. Many local businesses need to be supported by the local community in order to survive. Such businesses can contribute to their local communities as part of The One Percent Difference. It not necessarily a national-level programme. In my view, it will have more of an effect if implemented at local level. Very little has been made of the fact that one per cent of a person's time and effort can be committed locally. It is not all about money. We are living in difficult times and some people will not be able to contribute a percentage of their net income because they do not have an income. However, people can contribute one percent of their time and that time can be translated into voluntary work or into helping to fund-raise for an organisation. This part of the campaign should be emphasised more. I ask for the Minister's comments.

We are a great nation to give our time, and several speakers have referred to the number of hours given at a local level by people to our national sports of hurling and football. Many hours are also given to music and the arts by people at a local level. This garners goodwill in a community, bringing happiness and joy, and it costs no money at all. This should not just be about money and it should also consider the giving of time, which can be translated into a feel-good factor for communities.

This campaign also offers people an opportunity to stand back and look at what we have done in this society. Nobody in the world is better at donating when there is a disaster and we are the first to give money to donation campaigns. Nevertheless, we must change our thought process regarding charity and providing money to the likes of this campaign. The campaign must steer a message on what it is doing, and people must be aware of the facts. I ask for the Minister's thoughts on the second part of the campaign, which should be about what will happen with money and emphasise the voluntary time element of the effort. If those could be achieved as part of the overall campaign, we would reach the €800 million target set by the chief executive of Philanthropy Ireland.