Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

Tá fáilte romhat, a Aire Stáit. I, too, welcome the policy. Social enterprises have been called the quiet revolutionaries of our communities. We seem them right across the country - community cafés that support people with disabilities or mental health difficulties, recycling hubs, and enterprises supporting growers. Social enterprises want to provide solutions based on their inclusion model. The national social enterprise policy is a start. The commitment to social enterprise is wonderful. The idea of a social enterprise model and policies is growing across Europe. We need to encourage and lead that rather than follow and it is great to have this debate with a Minister of State.

Social enterprises, as has been said here, face barriers that traditional businesses do not. In my own area of Sligo and Leitrim, social enterprises often operate in areas where there is a lot of disadvantage and they have limited access to capital and skilled labour. Social enterprises come from a grassroots level and are being supported by the local LEADER partnerships, which is fantastic, and LEOs. I want to give a big shout out to the Sligo Women in Business Network, SWIBN, which does incredible work in the local enterprise office in Sligo.

In terms of actions that we would like to see, we need dedicated funding streams and a multi-annual funding model that allows for long-term planning. As often happens within the voluntary and community sector, there is a lack of multi-annual funding. I know this is a different matter, though.

I welcome the fact that the Minister of State mentioned the need to reform procurement. Too often, social enterprises are locked out of public contracts, so it is great to see that the Minister of State addressed that aspect in his opening remarks and he mentioned that the new policy included space for a social clause.

As has been said by colleagues across the House, social enterprise is not a mystery and we must ensure that education about it happens in schools, business courses, universities and training centres.

To pick up on what has been said by Senator Tully, my party views social enterprise as a way of creating community wealth but because there is not a dedicated person employed to do that, social enterprises can be locked out. I use Rossnowlagh Farmers Market, for example, which has created a space. There was very little available in the community, so it is a lot more than a farmers market. It creates community events, gives opportunities to growers, arranges workshops and provides a place where people can exchange creative skills and growing skills. My party would love to see the re-establishment of the co-operative development unit in the Department of enterprise. We would also like to see the audit threshold for charities increased to €500,000 and for a national body to be developed for the sector.