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Community Development Projects

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 September 2020

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Questions (6)

Mark Ward

Question:

6. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Community and Rural Development and the Islands the number of organisations which applied for the community and voluntary stability fund; the number of applications granted; if the fund is still open for applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24195/20]

View answer

Oral answers (7 contributions)

Covid-19 has impacted every organisation across the country, and none more so than those in the community and voluntary sector. These are vital for building resilience in our communities. How many organisations applied to the community and voluntary stability fund? How many applications were successful and what was the application process?

The community and voluntary sector Covid-19 stability fund provided up to €35 million from the Dormant Accounts Fund to organisations in the sector and social enterprises. The fund was intended to provide a targeted, once-off, cash injection for organisations and groups currently delivering critical front-line services to those most in need in our society and in danger of imminent closure due to lost fundraised or traded income as a direct result of restrictions. The criteria of the scheme stated that any grants awarded would be dependent on the need identified and organisations approved for funding were prioritised on that basis.

My Department received 1,060 applications during the application period. To date, three tranches of successful applications have been announced, allocating funding of over €25 million to 489 organisations. This funding is now supporting the delivery of many critical front-line services in every part of the country. A full list of successful applicants is now available on the website.

To give Deputies a taste of some projects they might be interested in, the Clondalkin Blue Skies Initiative received €105,000, the Lucan Disability Action Group received €75,000, Inner City Helping Homeless received €98,000, while in other areas of the country, Recovery Haven Kerry received €50,000 and Longford Women's Link received €104,000. Though the fund is closed to new applications at the moment, additional checks are continuing on a number of applications and a further announcement in respect of successful applicants will be made shortly.

At the moment, there are no plans for a second round of the stability scheme. The scheme is administered by Pobal on behalf of my Department and is innovative in its cross-departmental nature, as it is a collaboration with the new Department of Children, Disability, Equality and Integration and the Department of Health, with input from other relevant Departments.

All funding is welcome and it is good to see a few organisations in my own area that were beneficiaries of the fund. Talking to people in the Lucan and Clondalkin area who applied, it was my understanding that a limited timeframe was set for the first tranche that was rolled out in June. The application process was difficult and cumbersome. Community organisations could not access the relevant details that they were required to submit because they could not access the community buildings because of the restrictions introduced in June. Community organisations went to great lengths during the pandemic to make their buildings as safe as possible by providing screens, PPE, hand sanitiser and anything that was required. This comes at great expense and it is not sustainable. I know the Minister of State mentioned that there are no plans for another round of this scheme. In the absence of more plans, does the Government have plans to roll out a more applicant-friendly continuous structured fund for our community organisations?

To clarify, there was an appeal process as well, which considered real barriers where people simply could not access the information. Some people were not around and available to make the applications. To clarify some of the details, grant levels ranging from €200,000 were approved. They were based on a variety of factors, including the level of loss experienced by the organisation, the level of non-pay costs and the level of public funding received in 2019. Funding can be used to defray non-pay costs such as rent, rates, insurance, etc. Pay-related costs or capital expenditure are not eligible under the fund as many charities in particular were able to avail of the Government's wage subsidy scheme and other funding supports. The fund came under the dormant accounts scheme, which limited its remit to some extent. I can talk more about those limitations if the Deputy likes. Not every organisation was eligible. They should have been informed and would have had an opportunity to appeal.

I have met community organisations across the Clondalkin and Lucan areas. They are crying out for financial support that is continuous, structured and applicant-friendly. Community organisations are at the heart of our communities. They put the community in our communities. The reality is that many of our community organisations are historically self-sufficient. The traditional avenues of funding such as renting rooms, holding meetings or having cafés, as mentioned by my colleague, Teachta Paul Donnelly, have completely dried up because of Covid. This constant changing of restrictions does not allow them to plan for the future. We are constantly being told that we have to live with Covid but, at present, our community organisations are in danger of having the lifeblood choked out of them. What our community organisations need are financial supports that are constant, instant and easy to access for the foreseeable future, not this ad hoc, unplanned and piecemeal funding offered by the Government.

My colleagues have already stated the facts about the absolute necessity of this money from the point of view of maintaining vital community centres and community projects. I would like to talk about Muirhevna Mor Community Centre. The fact is that it would have failed the criteria. It is now appealing. It technically administers money for other services, so it would seem initially that it has failed the 80:20 rule, but it is obviously afraid that it will not get these moneys and if that is the case, it will face serious difficulties. The other one which I have been in correspondence with the Minister of State's office about is Dundalk Youth Centre. It has also appealed but the difficulty is that it would fail on the basis of having 80% State funding but it is a small organisation and, as it would say, it needs the extra 20% to keep the doors open, so I would like to consider a solution to that problem.

If those organisations want to contact the Department and my office, we can follow up. To clarify the criteria for eligibility, as the Deputy mentioned, organisations need to receive less than 80% State funding, as the Government had committed to maintaining existing contracts and grants throughout the crisis and offered other additional supports. Organisations had to project a reduction of 25% or more in their fundraising or traded income for 2020 compared with 2019 figures. Delivering certain eligible critical services to the most vulnerable in our communities was important too. In addition to those schemes, the Government's resilience and recovery plan from this week contains a number of important initiatives about promoting community well-being and resilience, and it stresses the importance of communities working together, planning with local authorities, and how local community development committees can and will provide a focal point for individual and community resilience, engaging the amenities, services and community supports available. We will be working more closely with community development committees to address some of the gaps the Deputies have raised.

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