I propose to take Questions Nos. 338, 339, 340 and 341 together.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has provided grant funding to Benefacts, a not-for-profit organisation, for a pathfinder project in the area of data on the non-profit sector. This grant funding agreement ceases on 31st December 2020.
During the period of the grant agreement, my Department commissioned an independent report on the market for data on the non-profit sector. One of the options identified in the report was for centralised information on the non-profit sector to be provided directly by a government department or agency. Key public service stakeholders, including the Departments of Rural and Community Development, Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Central Statistics Office, Tusla and the HSE, agreed that such an approach was the preferred approach as it offered the best means to ensure the scope and specification of work in this area met their needs and provided value for money.
To facilitate consideration by these key public stakeholders of the range issues involved, it is proposed to make €950,000 available through the Revised 2021 Estimate for my Department's Vote to allow Benefacts to continue to provide data on the non-profit sector during 2021.