On section 4, I have an amendment from Senator Fallon.
National Social Service Board Bill 1983: Committee Stage.
Sections 1 to 3, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 4.
I move amendment No. 1:
In page 4, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following new paragraph:—
"(g) to foster, assist and aid projects of community involvement and activity, and to facilitate the mobilisation of self-help particularly in communities in which there is a high degree of poverty and social deprivation."
On Second Stage I mentioned the need for a combat poverty input in the Bill. It is very desirable and is more necessary than ever before. Many people are out of work and on the poverty line. Rather than having separate legislation in the future — in a year, or two years, or whatever the Minister has in mind — the Minister should accept this amendment. It would meet the need the Minister knows to exist. If this Government are totally committed to the socially deprived and to those who suffer from poverty, now is the time to implement this scheme and there is no better way of doing it than by an amendment of this section.
I indicated on Second Stage that the Government were strongly of the view that there is a need for a separate statutory role for the National Social Service Board. I hold the view that we need a separation of powers in this area. Nobody in the Houses of the Oireachtas would be more reluctant than myself to establish what one might call political quangos, or new political organisations, or new community structures. Nevertheless the National Social Service Board should have a formal statutory base in our community to deliver basic information and the co-ordination of services in the social service area. That is being done in relation to the voluntary social services.
The broader issue of alleviating poverty and undertaking community involvement and activity in the poverty area, and in the area of social deprivation, requires separate, sustained action. There was confusion in the setting up of the National Community Development Agency because those functions were subsumed into the work of the National Community Development Agency. For these reasons, and not in any way detracting from the laudable arguments advanced by Senator Fallon, but holding that they are different and should be kept apart from the ordinary day-to-day work of the National Social Service Board, and separate in budget terms, I regret that I am not able to accept the amendment.
The Government have set aside in 1984 £475,000 for the National Social Service Board. In the years ahead I would like to see more resources going into the work of that board. On an entirely separate basis the Government set aside £1 million for the Combat Poverty Organisation to work in that area. I am rather anxious that the two of them should not be confused or intertwined at this stage. There may be people who would like to see them so intertwined and the moneys put under the one broad subhead. For that reason and in terms of budget reallocation of moneys on an ongoing basis, I regret that I am not in a position to accept the amendment.
Progress reported; Committee to sit again.