Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)

When I talk about social enterprise, policy and Trading for Impact, they are something I know very well to the core. When I started an organisation called Tiglin 20 years ago, I did not have a grand plan. I literally bought a bus, converted it into a restaurant and got a bus licence, and I went out onto the streets after work. I used to park the bus under the Clerys clock on O'Connell Street where I met the most amazing people. These were people who were broken, marginalised, hungry, in addiction and often forgotten. They had been pushed to the margins of society. In stupidity and naivety, a number of us got together and bought the national mountaineering centre. Now, we have eight centres throughout Ireland. As I look back two decades later, I am reminded of what Steve Jobs from Apple said about how it was only when we look backwards that we can join all the dots. Now, it is somewhat coming together. We started off with a bus, but at the very heart of what Tiglin is is social enterprise, and that has been a huge journey for us.

Social enterprise itself is not about charity or business. It is a model that uses a business to deliver social good, where every euro of profit is reinvested into people, communities and futures. What I have found over these 20 years is that Tiglin has taken those who were written off, given them a position and shown that they are as good or bad as any one of us. I have seen this first hand. In recent years, we opened a new café right beside the sea in Greystones. We have housing, the café, a bakery, a sauna and a crèche. All of that is done as part of a social enterprise. It is a training ground, a stepping stone and a platform where young men and women, many of whom have faced addiction or homelessness, take their first steps back into employment.The customers in the community really buy into what we do. They might see a barista or a manager serving a flat white, but what I see is Tommy or Mary, people who I met years ago on the streets. I see a life that could have been lost, and now they are redirected into a future that is really bright. That is the genius of social enterprise; it tackles two challenges at once. It addresses the social challenges that I have mentioned regarding unemployment, exclusion and addiction, but it also drives local economic activity and that strengthens our towns and cities. We have opened a new cafe beside the Four Courts. It is called All Rise and it operates on the same basis. There you can see our guys and girls, trained managers and restaurateurs, and they are serving the judges and barristers from across the road.

Across Ireland there are community shops, as my colleagues have stated, repair cafes, housing projects and training hubs. All of these social enterprises are quietly transforming lives. They often occupy the spaces the State cannot reach quickly enough. They do it with innovation, compassion and, definitely, community spirit. We need to do more, however. If we are serious about addressing issues like homelessness, addiction and social inclusion, we have to see social enterprise as a key part of the national strategy. It should not be an optional add-on; it should be seen as a proven pathway to reintegration.

When we set out with Tiglin, it was never a vision to start a social enterprise. That became the case, however, and it was a game changer. In the past couple of years, a young lady lost her life in the community of Bray-Greystones. The young people got together after the funeral. They wanted to gather somewhere but they had nowhere to do so. We opened up our café to them. We now have a youth cafe in another building. We have a special psychologist who deals with adolescents and we have a Garda diversion project. All of that is funded from the social enterprise of Rise at the Cove Café.

As a nation, we have invested in infrastructure, technology and housing, but we need to invest in people through models of social enterprise. Social enterprise allows people not to just survive, it can allow them to thrive. When I look back after 20 years of Tiglin, I do not see just centres, cafés or projects; I see hundreds if not thousands of lives changed and families reunited. The communities in which we operate are definitely stronger. That is the true harvest of social enterprise. I ask that we remind ourselves that Ireland has always prided itself on its spirit of innovation and compassion. Social enterprise is underutilised and underemphasised. It is where the two traits of compassion and innovation meet. We need to champion it, scale it and fund it. I am not talking about millions; I am talking about support. When we do that, we are not just creating jobs, we are creating futures. I have the CVs of many people who I met in chaos and on the streets and who, today, have their families, management jobs and are doing so well in life. This is because of the investment in social enterprise.