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

Last November, I was delighted to launch the 2022 Community Support Fund (CSF) under the Community Enhancement Programme, with funding of €10 million to assist thousands of community groups across the country. A key feature of the Community Enhancement Programme is that it is targeted to the specific challenges facing local community groups and delivers immediate, tangible supports where they are needed most.

In general, support under the Community Enhancement Programme is available to, for example, Parish Halls, Community Centres, Local Development Associations, Social Clubs, Senior Citizen Groups, Men’s and Women’s Sheds. Under the 2022 CSF iteration, the fund is delivering small grants to help groups with running costs and rising energy bills. Groups can also use the funding to carry out small upgrade works and to purchase equipment to support their activities such as laptops and printers, lawnmowers, training equipment, etc.

Community Enhancement Funding is administered on behalf of my Department locally by Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) across the country, with support from their Local Authority. The relevant LCDC receive and appraise applications, making determinations on how the funding can best support their communities.

I have seen first-hand how these small grants make a big difference for local community groups. The feedback from community groups and from the LCDCs is very positive, and as these grants deliver immediate, targeted funding support that can be used against a range of costs, both capital and current, they are making a real impact on the ground in communities across the country.

The 2022 CSF is now closed to applicants and details of successful projects will be published on my Department’s website www.gov.ie/drcd in the coming weeks. It is hoped to run another CEP later in 2023, however, details of this programme are not yet confirmed.

I look forward to continuing to deliver meaningful supports like the CEP to local communities as we support them to respond to the challenges they face.

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

As a partnership between the private sector and Government, Rethink Ireland (formerly Social Innovation Fund Ireland) has been funded from the Dormant Accounts Fund through contractual funding arrangements since its creation in 2013. The business model which these arrangements support is for Government funding to match the philanthropic donations on a 50:50 co-funded basis i.e., every euro raised in philanthropic funding is matched by Government. However, this is subject to budget allocations as part of the estimates process.

The current five year contract between Rethink Ireland and my Department runs from January 2021 to December 2025 and provides match funding to a maximum of €5.5m per annum. It should also be noted that, while my Department provides the majority of its match-funding, Rethink Ireland have also received funding from other Departments and my Department encourages these partnerships.

In total, with philanthropic and Government support, Rethink Ireland has created a €95 million Social Innovation Fund and created 48 individual funds across five key themes of Health, Education, Equality, Social Enterprise, and Climate. These funds have reached 829,425 people and supported 2,700 people into employment.