Written Answers Nos. 674-677
674. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if a clear information pack will be made available for service users of community centres on the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on their particular sector. [44459/20]
View answerPublic health guidance has been issued by Government, the HSE, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC), the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and others. This guidance should be carefully considered and should form the basis for any COVID-19 related plans.
Further guidance for the community and voluntary sector has been developed by my Department in conjunction with Pobal to help them with reopening, and this is available here:
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/fd1c9-guidance-for-reopening-community-sector/
If community centres run by volunteers have paid workers on their premises, they should follow the Return to Work Safely Protocol which is on the following link:
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/22829a-return-to-work-safely-protocol/. The employer is responsible for putting in place control measures, in consultation with a worker representative.
In cases where all involved are unpaid volunteers, and therefore the Health and Safety Authority would not have a role, a responsible person within the organisation should put in place appropriate measures before reopening.
As each facility and activity is different, there is an emphasis on personal responsibility and the need for people and organisations to exercise judgement in their activities. My Department encourages community and voluntary groups, regardless of the activity that they are involved in, to consider how the published information applies to them, and to put in place the appropriate measures when opening facilities to service users.
675. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development her plans for remote working hubs in County Cork. [44546/20]
View answerRemote working has the potential to transform rural Ireland, allowing people to build careers in good quality jobs while continuing to live closer to home. It also provides an opportunity for those that moved away from home to return to their roots to raise their families.
The increased shift to remote work in the last nine months as a result of COVID-19 has given us the opportunity to re-imagine the possibilities for a greater regional distribution of jobs and to support a better quality of life for many people who previously spent many hours in long commutes
This shift has been supported by the significant investment my Department has made, in partnership with Local Authorities in many cases, in remote working facilities throughout the country over the last number of years. For example, in Cork, my Department provided more than €200,000 from the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) to support the development by Cork County Council of their Rural Digital Innovation Hub Strategy.
My Department also provided €152,626 to the Ludgate Hub Innovation Cluster in Skibbereen through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme in 2017.
As part of an expanded Town and Village Renewal Scheme next year, I have secured an additional €5 million for investment in remote working facilities at digital hubs and Broadband Connection Points across rural Ireland. It will be a matter for Local Authorities to develop applications for funding from this, and other appropriate schemes from my Department, as well as from other Government Departments and agencies where appropriate.
My Department is also currently working with the Western Development Commission to develop a national network of remote working hubs. This work is being overseen by an Interdepartmental Working Group chaired by the Secretary General of my Department. The Working Group is currently carrying out a data-gathering project to develop a comprehensive centralised dataset of remote working facilities in Ireland. Both Cork City and County councils have been asked to contribute to this exercise.
676. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of projects and administration allocations under the LEADER transitional programme; the funding provided for new LEADER projects in 2021; the funding identified for the delivery and administration of the LEADER programme in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44603/20]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, due to delays at EU level, there will be a delay between the end of the current LEADER programme, which was due to conclude at the end of this year, and the next EU programme which will not now commence until 2023. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to introduce a transitional LEADER programme to bridge that gap.
Yesterday, 16th December 2020, I announced details of the Transitional LEADER Programme, which will come into effect from 1st April 2021 for new project approvals. I also announced some flexibilities to the current LEADER programme, including extending the deadline for commitments to the end of March 2021 to facilitate the full allocation of the funds available.
I have provided an initial allocation of €20 million for the Transitional LEADER Programme, which will fund both new project applications and the administration and project animation costs of the Local Action Groups who will deliver the programme.
In addition, a further €7 million will be provided to the LAGs in 2021 for the on-going management and delivery of projects still running under the 2014-2020 LEADER programme.
I will review the funding situation for the Transitional Programme when Regulations governing the transitional period are signed at EU level and when there is clarity regarding EU funding for the transitional period.
In the meantime, my Department has written to all of the Local Action Groups, providing a detailed outline of the Transitional Programme, including their respective financial allocations.
Further details of the Transitional Programme are included in the announcement on my Department’s pages of the Gov.ie website.
677. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will ensure that all community services programme workers and the organisations in which they work, many of which have continued to provide essential services during the Covid-19 crisis, have their full funding needs guaranteed by her Department for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic and for the subsequent ongoing service requirements caused by the pandemic. [44607/20]
View answerThe Community Services Programme, or CSP, supports more than 420 community organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model. CSP funding is provided as a fixed annual contribution towards the cost of an agreed number of full-time equivalent (FTE) (€19,033) positions including a manager (€32,000), where appropriate. Almost €49m is available to support the organisations under the programme in 2021.
In response to the difficulties faced by the organisations as a result of COVID-19, my Department developed a €1.2m Support Fund to assist CSP supported organisations to retain their CSP supported employees on their payroll during this crisis period. This provided support until August. This funding assisted CSP supported organisations to pay their full-time CSP supported employees a maximum of €350 net per week, with a proportionate amount for part-time CSP supported employees.
Pobal, who manage the programme on behalf of the Department, then carried out a detailed review of the financial position of all the CSP supported organisations in September, as their ability to generate income has been greatly hampered by the Covid-19 crisis in many cases. Following this review, my Department announced an additional €3.55m extension to the CSP Support Fund in November, bringing the overall Fund to €4.75m.
This additional funding will provide financial assistance to the organisations to continue to retain their CSP supported employees on their payroll from August 2020 until April 2021 and will also provide assistance for the Employers' PRSI contribution for all CSP supported employees, including managers.
To date, 357 CSP supported organisations have been approved a total of €3.6m under the Support Fund. A further 30 organisations are currently under consideration and a final decision will be made in the coming week.
In addition to this funding, 152 CSP supported organisations were approved funding of almost €9m under my Department's Covid-19 Stability Fund for Community and Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprises.
