Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

911. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the total number of applications received for funding under the Community Services Programme for County Louth, by organisation name and location for 2023 [6748/23]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My department's Community Services Programme (CSP) supports 420 community-based organisations, to provide local services through a social enterprise model. CSP provides an annual co-funding contribution towards each full-time equivalent (FTE) position being supported, and, where warranted, towards the cost of employing a manager.

The CSP contribution is not aligned to the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts. The contribution must be co-funded by other sources, for example, from income received from the public use of their facilities and services.

My department and Pobal have been working on the restructuring of the CSP since the publication in 2020 of the report on the independent review of the CSP by Indecon International Economic Consultants. The redesigned programme was introduced from January 2023 with a new funding rate allocation model, to replace the existing flat rate model.

The CSP currently supports 12 organisations that provide supports/services in County Louth. These are approved for funding of over €1.788m in 2023, supporting 9 managers and 66 full-time equivalent positions, with new multi-annual contracts issued recently from Pobal to the organisations in question. Details of the organisations in County Louth that are supported under CSP are provided in the table below. Full details of all CSP supported organisations are also available on Pobal's website, www.pobal.ie.