Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Minister of State is taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys. If there are outstanding matters, I ask that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, refer back to me. I understand she is not available today.

I wish to speak about an organisation called Green Sod Ireland. It is an amazing organisation which does its work voluntarily. Like many environmental organisations, it is scraping around in search of funding to keep itself going. One of the key issues this organisation and many others have is multi-annual core funding. Green Sod Ireland is disappointed that it has not been successful when it has applied previously to the scheme to support national organisations. I am told it has not been successful because of the criteria, which are addressing poverty and social exclusion and promoting equality. I believe much of the work the organisation does could qualify under these criteria. Apart from that, however, it is quite disappointing to see environmental organisations, which put so much into their local communities, being turned down for this type of funding. I ask that the Minister consider broadening the criteria if she does not feel they match.

I will give an outline of the organisation's work. It has over 100 acres at present. It has had to turn down donations of more acres. Its members are stewards and custodians of that land, ensuring that it is rewilded and that habitats are brought back to their natural state. It varies from place to place. The organisation has tracts of land in Ballinrobe in Mayo, in Connemara, Galway, Cavan and Donegal. It has areas all over the country and part of its function is to provide support for ecologists to do a report and then to maintain the land. Its members also visit schools and promote biodiversity. They work with communities to bring these tracts of land back to life.

As the Minister of State can understand, it is very much about equality of access to our wild spaces and equality in the broadest sense of equality for all species. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State and to hearing about what other schemes the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, could provide in this respect. While I am aware that there are other schemes, I believe the organisation also has not received funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which was a great disappointment. Doors are being closed to it all the time. However, this scheme applies more generally and I am sure I am not alone in having organisations coming to me to seek multi-annual funding. It is time we stepped up because applying for a grant only gives funding for a small project, which means the organisation cannot retain a member of staff or plan for the long term. It is also a major burden to make grant applications year after year, and perhaps several in one year, to sustain the organisation.