I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for giving me an opportunity to respond to the report on volunteers and volunteering. As I said in response to questions in the House recently, the committee has produced an important and valuable report. It deserves, and we have given it, considerable consideration in the Department. I have a response to many but not all of the issues to which the Chairman referred.
In recent times we have had the benefit of a number of reports on the appropriate interface by the State with volunteers and volunteer groups. A White Paper on Supporting Voluntary Activity was published in September 2000. The report, Tipping the Balance, was a response by the voluntary sector to the White Paper. My Department benefited from the thinking of the implementation advisory group on the Tipping the Balance report, although its views were not published formally. More recently, we have had the committee's report which, as well as making its own valuable contribution, distilled and prioritised much of the thinking in the earlier reports.
All these documents call for the development of a national policy on volunteering. I accept the need for such a policy. However, the development of an all-embracing policy on volunteering is difficult and complex. Ideally, such a policy should develop naturally between the State and communities. Accordingly, in response to the committee's report, my intention is to set out a number of measures that will be put in place immediately to promote, develop and sustain volunteering while a longer-term policy and strategy are developed in consultation with players across the sector.
A key principle underpinning my proposals recognises that volunteering finds meaning and expression at local level and that supports and funding should, to the greatest extent, seek to reflect and respect this reality. My focus, therefore, tends towards the local and practical rather than towards grand institutional measures. The measures I will initiate in my proposals address many of the key recommendations in the committee's report. They are designed to deepen and strengthen existing volunteering infrastructure, develop and expand volunteering infrastructure at local and community levels, promote volunteering among young people at second and third levels, support the development of an authoritative code of best practice for volunteering, and develop reliable data on volunteering to inform further initiatives, focus strategies and maximise criteria.
On the specifics of the existing volunteering infrastructure, the Department already provides direct annual funding for the Tallaght Volunteer Bureau and Volunteering Ireland. Both are members of Volunteer Centres Ireland, a network established to co-operate on any issues that relate to best practice in the operation of volunteer centres. The other members of the network are the Newbridge Volunteer Bureau, the Bray Volunteer Bureau, Tralee Volunteer Bureau, Cork Volunteer Bureau, Ballyfermot Volunteer Centre and Drogheda Volunteer Centre.
The committee's report recommends in paragraph 2(a) that Volunteering Ireland and existing volunteer centres or bureaus should be supported and granted long-term funding. I accept that the volunteer centres network and the bureaus, including Volunteering Ireland, constitute a valuable infrastructure on which to build for the future. Accordingly, I intend to maintain, on a pilot basis, the funding at current levels in respect of the Tallaght Volunteer Bureau and Volunteering Ireland. The former currently receives €131,000 per year from the Department and the latter receives €147,000 per year.
We want to provide additional funding of up to €300,000 per year to support the other six members of the network in order to develop and strengthen their respective roles in promoting volunteering among the public and providing a placement service for volunteers. Subject to standard conditions attaching to expenditure of public money, this will mean that up to €50,000 per annum will be available to each volunteer bureau. Fingal County Council directly promotes and funds volunteers and volunteering through its community, culture and sports department. In the context of deepening its capability and competence in the community, it is proposed to encourage other local authorities to follow its example and invest resources in volunteering.
In return for the funding proposed we expect the other bureaux, such as the Tallaght Volunteer Bureau, to provide similar services in their local areas. We also expect them to develop general practices and principles as members of Volunteer Centres Ireland. The effectiveness of this measure will be reviewed during the third year of funding.
At present, Volunteer Centres Ireland has no paid staff. To put it in a position to play a proactive, central role in facilitating and supporting the development of the network of local volunteer bureaux, I am making available to Volunteer Centres Ireland annual funding of €50,000, subject to contracts and standard conditions, for the purpose of employing a development officer. Definite tasks for the officer would include development and consultation with various players across the sector, the development of a code of practice for volunteering and volunteers, development of up-to-date statistics on volunteering from existing databases.
Most reports stress the need for new research on the sector. This includes the committee's report. There is another view, which I share, that there is already considerable useful up-to-date information on volunteering at local bureau level. Rather than commiting significant funding to new research programmes at this stage, the development officer whose position we will be funding might seek to develop this information into useful local and national statistics.
I hope the members of the committee agree that these measures will go a considerable way towards developing and strengthening existing volunteering infrastructure with a minimum of bureaucracy. The committee's report also recommends that the existing volunteering infrastructure should be developed. We are taking two other initiatives to address this recommendation. There is already in existence an extensive network of local and community development agencies funded by the State. Some local area partnership companies, community partnerships and community development projects already, through their operations, act as a catalyst for the encouragement and promotion of volunteering. Examples of such work include training of voluntary community activists in management, community development skills, technical assistance to support voluntary groups and technical skills to enable voluntary groups gain access to funds; supporting local voluntary groups' input into and ability to benefit from structures such as the county development boards, the SIM committees and child care committees; supporting volunteer bureaux; and promoting active citizenship and awareness of voting.
My first initiative under this heading is to formalise this role. To this end, €500,000 in local area partnership funding is being ring-fenced for measures that encourage volunteers and volunteering. Each local area partnership company will be asked to develop measures at a local level if it is not already doing so. Measures that involve more than one local or community agency will be particularly welcome. I hope the initiative will achieve this.
In addition, the committee sought the promotion of volunteering generally as an essential part of building up our volunteering infrastructure and recommended that a national awareness campaign be initiated. This can best be achieved at a local level on a cross-agency basis. With that in mind, I am ring-fencing €500,000 of the cohesion fund, which was established on foot of a Government decision arising from the tri-ministerial review of local and community development structures, for measures that will promote volunteers and volunteering locally. These two measures underline our commitment to developing volunteering infrastructure. Under this arrangement, proposals will be co-ordinated by city and county development boards.
The committee's report also recommended a number of actions in the education sector, with the specific aim of increasing volunteering among young people. I accept that it is self-evident that if volunteering is to have a future, steps to foster a culture of support for volunteering in schools and third level institutions need to be taken immediately. Two initiatives are already under way in this regard. The young social innovators initiative involves transition year students at secondary school level from all over Ireland in identifying social needs and developing strategies to address them, requiring their engagement with local community and statutory organisations. The key objective is to develop volunteering among young people and grow a cadre of volunteers for the future.
I believe this initiative, encouraging second level students to take up voluntary activity, addresses an essential element of policy on volunteering into the future.
Accordingly, my Department will take the opportunity provided by the initiative to advance volunteering by supporting the annual showcase awards of the social innovators initiative to the tune of €75,000 per annum and by providing a contribution towards a medium-term core funding of the initiative of €125,000. This funding will be made available on a pilot basis for each of three years. With regard to third level, the DIT community learning programme is an example of a new teaching method called service learning which works by integrating classroom learning in any subject with suitable volunteering activity. The programme has been in development in the DIT since 2001, when 12 students were involved and last year 65 student were involved. Students have carried out a wide variety of volunteering projects and in order to place the community learning programme on a sustainable footing, my Department will support the programme as a pilot project to be assessed as a possible model for Irish third level education. In this regard, €110,000 per annum will be allocated to the programme which will find a development officer and an evaluator for the development of the programme in the DIT. Ultimately, the objective is to encourage the expansion of the programme to a significant number of other third level colleges over a period of years.
The effectiveness of the departmental funding will be assessed within those three years. I hope members will agree that the package of measures, which amount to just under €2 million per annum, is sufficient to develop and strengthen volunteering in Ireland as we develop an all-embracing national policy together.
Our policies on volunteering must go to the very heart of our vision of how Irish society should develop in the coming years. On the one hand, we have communities which need support now in order to get their fair share of our booming economy. In the context of economic growth, there are an increasing number of communities in which few people live during the working day and where people are often too tired in the evenings to come together to take part in any of the voluntary activities which should go to make up a community.
Unless volunteering can be promoted and strengthened we run the risk of seeing an increasing number of communities in which people do not come together as neighbours, parents or fellow citizens to work together to address common problem, play together or sing together as good active communities do. The ultimate outcome of a policy on volunteering is to inspire people to participate in the development of their community and by putting the necessary supports in place to turn that inspiration into action. The experience of all those associated with voluntary activity, both volunteers and beneficiaries, is enriched at a personal, family, community and national level and the development of a comprehensive policy is a vital but complex undertaking which should develop naturally between the State and communities.
The measures I am bringing forward immediately will strengthen and promote volunteering as we develop this comprehensive national policy in consultation with communities and the players involved. I agree with the committee in recognising the valuable work being carried out by organisations such as Philanthropy Ireland and Business in the Community and I accept the need for a functioning volunteering infrastructure to facilitate their philanthropic work. My Department also proposes to engage with these organisations in the coming months to explore ways to maximise the contribution of philanthropy to the common good.
I wish to record my appreciation of the committee for its report and the work members have put into it. I hope members agree that the measures I have outlined constitute a strong favourable initial response to the report. I thank the committee for the work it has put into it. It has pulled together and focused on the previous report in a positive manner. The measures which we are announcing are immediate and practical. Other suggestions which have been made by the committee and other parties are of a more long-term nature.
