Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 206: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will introduce a national policy on volunteering to coincide with the European Year of Volunteering 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13279/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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My Department funds a network of 22 Volunteer Centres nationally. It also funds Volunteer Centres Ireland (VCI) and Volunteering Ireland, which are the umbrella bodies responsible for developing best practice within the network. VCI and its member centres encourage all community and voluntary organisations that work with volunteers to have in place a suitable volunteer policy. The development of a volunteer policy is an integral part of the management training currently provided by Volunteer Centres to organisations engaging volunteers.

There are a number of charters on volunteering available within the community and voluntary sector. One such charter is the Charter for Effective Volunteering, which has been developed by Volunteering Ireland and is widely used within the sector. It is important that each individual community and voluntary organisation adapts a charter to suit the particular needs of its organisation and its overall context. One of the key objectives of the European Year of Volunteering is to work towards an enabling environment for volunteering, which includes the development of a National Policy on Volunteering. The Irish national steering group for the European Year of Volunteering, on which my Department is represented, is working with the national co-ordinating body for the year, Volunteering Ireland, to bring forward the development of a National Policy on Volunteering in line with initiatives taken in this area by the European Commission.