Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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21. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will report on any progress made in relation to multi-annual funding for the community, voluntary and charitable sectors. [62715/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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In August 2019, my Department launched Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, the Strategy to support the community and voluntary sector in Ireland.

This Strategy was developed in consultation with the Cross-Sectoral Group and an annual workplan to progress its implementation is agreed with the Group.

Work in 2022 is ongoing in respect of a number of the objectives outlined in the Strategy including:

- a Training Needs Assessment to identify gaps and make recommendations on how best to build capacity in the sector;

- Values and Principles for engagement and collaboration between Government and the C&V Sector have been adopted on a whole of Government basis and work is on-going on championing those values and principles and ensuring their use in practice;

- funding has continued to be provided to support the work of the All-Ireland Endorsement Body promoting appropriate standards in training of community development practitioners; and

- the first national Civic Forum for dialogue between the state and the C&V sector, which was co-designed with the sector, was held in November.

I do recognise that many community and voluntary organisations receive funding from the State on an annual basis. Objective 4 of the Strategy commits to reviewing the national practice in relation to commissioning, to scoping and developing a sustainable funding model to supporting the community and voluntary sector, recognising the importance of, inter alia, a multi-annual funding approach.

Some of my Department's programmes already operate on a multi-annual basis, for example the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), the Community Service Programme (CSP) and the Scheme to Support National Organisations (SSNO) respectively.

The SSNO, for example, plays a significant role in Government’s support to our national community and voluntary organisations. The SSNO provides multi-annual funding towards core costs of national organisations delivering services and supports, with a focus on one or more of the following: addressing poverty, social exclusion and promoting equality. Those organisations supported by the SSNO operate at the very heart of our communities, providing much needed supports for our most disadvantaged and vulnerable citizens.

A new iteration of the SSNO commenced in July of this year and will run until the end of June 2025. This new scheme builds on the developments of the previous 2019-2022 iteration of the scheme, to help strengthen and consolidate the administrative and operational capabilities of recipient organisations.

The SSNO 2022-2025 has proven to be a highly competitive process. Following evaluation, funding of just over €21 million has been provided to 82 organisations. This is an increase of 8 additional organisations being supported under the new scheme and represents an increase of over €2 million in funding in comparison to the last iteration.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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22. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the funding provided through the Community Centre Investment Fund in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62071/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government is fully aware of the challenges facing community and voluntary organisations at the moment and I was delighted to secure €20 million in funding under Budget 2023 to continue the Community Centres Investment Fund.

The huge interest in this fund in 2022 shows how important community centres are for communities throughout Ireland. This Government is committed to providing funding to improve and upgrade these centres which will allow them to continue to provide vital services for communities.

Under the 2022 fund, applications were invited under 3 Categories with funding of up to €300,000 available:

- Category 1: Small scale projects/improvements to facilities up to €25,000

- Category 2: Larger scale projects €25,001 to €100,000

- Category 3: Major projects €100,001 to €300,000

On October 12th, I announced over €12.5 million in funding for 580 successful Category 1 applicants. On December 8th, I was delighted to announce a further €33 million in funding for 278 successful Category 2 and 3 applicants. Details of the successful applicants are available on my Department’s website, www.gov.ie/drcd.

It is intended that the 2023 fund will be targeted towards new build community centres, as well as upgrades and improvements to existing centres. The details of this scheme are currently being developed by officials within my Department and I hope to launch the fund in quarter 1 of 2023.