Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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290. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to link allocation amounts paid to community groups through the community services programme to the minimum wage rate in order to subvent any increase to wage costs incurred by service providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11485/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The community services programme (CSP) is one of a number of programmes and schemes operated by my Department. It provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a social inclusion nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services. The CSP provides a contribution to the wage costs of the companies on the basis that the services are not fully self-financing or the cost of provision would be prohibitive on users. My Department does not set the wage rate but requires the payment of appropriate rate consistent with local norms.

At December 2015, 398 companies employing some 2,800 employees were directly supported by the CSP. The Department estimates that, at the end of 2015, some 60% of these employees were being paid above the level of the minimum wage, in keeping with the social inclusion and social benefit objectives of the programme. The Deputy should note that the CSP accounts for less than a third of the resources generated by these companies.

Contracts of up to three years duration are provided for under the CSP. Arrangements whereby individual companies may be able to access additional financial resources to compensate for the welcome increase in the minimum wage have been put in place. Submissions are being assessed on a case-by-case basis, with the annual funding commitment being adjusted where it is found to be warranted. An advance of 50% of the contract value for 2016 has been paid to companies currently in the programme which ensures that any immediate cash-flow requirements are supported.

Overall, I am satisfied that the level of resources available to the CSP in 2016 at just over €45 million will be adequate to meet the on-going funding needs of the programme.