Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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Question 291: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the reason for his decision to withdraw funding for the Community Workers Co-operative; if he intends to restore funding at a later stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22708/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I have comprehensively addressed the issues raised in the Deputy's question in this House on a number of occasions. In order to assist him, however, I will again explain my position.

Funding of anti-poverty networks arises from the White Paper on a Framework for Supporting Voluntary Activity and was originally administered by the Combat Poverty Agency on a three-year contract basis. This function transferred to my Department from that agency in late 2003. My Department sought work plans for 2004 from each of the ten national anti-poverty networks funded under the White Paper and, pending review, agreed to extend funding for 2004 on a one-year contract basis.

As I stated in the Adjournment Debate on this issue on 26 January, my Department was established by Government in June 2002 with a mandate to produce a more co-ordinated engagement by the State with communities throughout the country as they pursue their own development. In establishing my Department, it is clear that the Government was placing a focus on communities, particularly those that are vulnerable or under threat. In such instances, the provision of support to enable communities to identify and address problems in their own areas is seen as the best way forward.

Those communities may be in rural or inner city settings, grappling with difficulties caused by a range of factors, including declining populations, unemployment, language issues, social disadvantage or drug misuse. While most such communities, or groups of communities, can be defined in terms of geographic location, others will be defined on the basis of a common focus on a particular issue, such as unemployment, disability, lone parenting and so on.

My Department's commitment, in the context of the national anti-poverty networks, is to focus on concentrating available resources on support for communities experiencing disadvantage, exclusion and isolation. In line with this commitment, I decided to continue funding for nine anti-poverty networks to the tune of €1.35 million for 2005. This represents a 5% increase over 2004 for the networks concerned. As I have previously indicated, however, in the context of the focusing of my Department's resources on disadvantaged communities, I believe that continued funding of the Community Workers Co-operative could not be justified.

The co-operative differs from the other groups funded under the national anti-poverty networks in that they deal, in the main, with specific target groups. The anti-poverty networks that will continue to receive funding have a specific focus on matters such as Travellers, unemployment, refugees and rural disadvantage. In my opinion, the Community Workers Co-operative is the voice of community workers rather than of disadvantaged communities and overlaps with the functions of other networks. As such, it fails to meet a number of the key criteria suggested by the White Paper on supporting voluntary activity. These include a membership base which ensures that the voice of disadvantaged marginalised groups will find expression in relevant national fora and the requirement that individual networks should be genuinely representative and avoid unnecessary overlaps vis-À-vis each other.

The work of the Community Workers Co-operative does not focus on, or represent the voice of, any identifiable disadvantaged group. Rather, much of its work would appear to parallel measures separately funded by my Department. There is already a well-developed structure in existence providing supports to the sector. For example, my Department will spend €2.3 million in 2005 on six regional support agencies in support of community support projects. In addition, my Department funds 38 partnership companies at a cost of €45.7 million, 185 community development projects, costing €20.1 million, and 32 community partnerships. Under the White Paper on a Framework for Supporting Voluntary Activity, 66 networks and federations, including the national anti-poverty networks, are supported to the tune of €4.2 million.

Since the decision was communicated on 17 December 2004, my Department has facilitated the Community Workers Co-operative by holding a series of separate meetings. These included meetings with senior officials of the Department on 11 January 2005, with me, as the responsible Minister of State, on 19 January 2005 and with the Secretary General and Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, on 9 March 2005. I am fully satisfied that the co-operative has been afforded the opportunity to exhaustively appeal the decision at ministerial and senior administrative level.