Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 407: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the contacts he had with the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs about the setting up of Volunteering 21 in view of the need for a database for volunteering opportunities to respond to public inquiries on volunteering and for a policy strategy for volunteering here following the Tipping of the Balance report; and his views on whether, following the Special Olympics and APSO, volunteering within and outside the country needs a single agency. [14604/04]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Volunteer 21 initiative was launched by the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs in December last and I understand that the matter is the subject of a comprehensive reply to today's Question No. 14603/04 from the Deputy to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I am glad to confirm that there were contacts at official level between my own Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs when the initiative was being developed and that these contacts are continuing as appropriate.

With regard to the recommendations contained in Tipping the Balance, the report of the national committee on volunteering, including the question of a volunteering infrastructure, a sub-group of the implementation and advisory group, established under the terms of the White Paper on voluntary activity and comprising representatives of both the statutory and voluntary sectors, is examining these matters at present. Their work will contribute to the consideration of the report which is currently underway in my Department.