Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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The funding of Family Resource Centres is a matter for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.

You may be aware that my Department’s Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports the delivery of 453 services nationally via 434 community organisations through a social enterprise model. The CSP Programme aims to tackle disadvantage by providing a co-funding contribution towards the cost of employing a manager, where approved, and full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. It provides funding to community organisations rather than individuals. The CSP Programme currently provides funding towards the employment of 1,723 FTE posts and 354 manager positions, with an allocation of €59.4 million for 2026.

The CSP contribution is not aligned to the minimum wage and is not intended to meet the full salary cost of supported posts. Each organisation, as an employer, is required to generate income to fully meet wage costs in order to comply with employment legislation, and to cover all other operating costs involved in running the organisation. This approach is central to operating on a social enterprise model and is a key feature of the CSP Programme.

Notwithstanding the above, my Department provided funding increases in each of the past three years, to a significant number of CSP-funded organisations, in recognition of the increased costs of employment.

As is standard practice, my Department continues to monitor the various aspects of the CSP Programme in order to identify emerging challenges and, where possible, changes have been applied to address these challenges.