Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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948. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if her attention has been drawn to concerns raised by a board (details supplied); the financial assistance or grant funding that can be provided to this organisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34009/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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My Department’s Community Services Programme (CSP), currently supports over 420 community organisations to provide employment opportunities and the delivery of a diverse range of local services, through a social enterprise model. 

The CSP contribution is not aligned to the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts, rather it is a fixed annual contribution towards the overall cost of the employees with funding of €19,033 provided for each full time equivalent (FTE) position and €32,000 for a manager, where warranted. 

The CSP contribution must be co-funded by the organisation concerned from other sources, for example, from income received from the public use of their facilities and services.  There are currently over 1,700 FTE positions supported under the CSP.  It should be noted that there are a number of CSP supported organisations currently in a position to pay their staff the living wage rate of €12.90 per hour.

As a result of Covid-19 my Department developed an €8.95m CSP Support Fund for the period 2020 – 2021 to assist organisations to continue to retain their CSP supported employees and to fund related costs. My Department and Pobal are continuing to monitor this situation closely and any additional funding will be considered in light of available budgets, during this year. 

The organisation in question receives annual support of €38,066 under the CSP towards the cost of supporting 2 FTE positions, received additional funding of €2,596.30 under the 2020 CSP Support Fund and a further €1,928.68 under the 2021 CSP Support Fund.  In addition, CSP supported organisations were able to avail of a number other Department schemes designed to support community and voluntary organisations, resulting in the organisation receiving €26,573 under the Covid Stability Fund during 2020.

Following the transfer of the CSP Programme to my Department in January 2018 an independent review of the CSP which was undertaken by Indecon International Economic Consultants, on behalf of my Department, with the final report published in September 2020. 

My Department and Pobal, who administer the programme on behalf of my Department, are currently working on the restructuring of the programme in conjunction with a Consultative Group representative of stakeholders, with a view to having it finalised by the end of 2022. As part of this ongoing work, the rates of funding and eligibility criteria under the scheme are being reviewed.

Pending the completion of the programme restructuring as outlined above, it is not possible to confirm the allocation to an individual organisation in 2023.  However, under our current proposals, no organisation will get less than their 2022 allocation, based on currently approved staffing levels.