John Lahart
Question:86. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the additional supports that have been provided to the voluntary and community sector over the past two years. [45103/22]
View answerThursday, 15 September 2022
Questions (86)
Written answers
My Department continuously engages with the community and voluntary sector including through the Cross Sectoral Group (CSG) and in implementing ‘Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities’, the five-year strategy to support the C&V sector.
My Department also delivers a wide range of supports to eligible community and voluntary organisations throughout the country.
These supports include, amongst others, the Community Centres Investment Fund, Community Services Programme Community & Voluntary Supports programme, Community Activities Fund, Community Enhancement Programme, and the Scheme to Support National Organisations.
Community organisations who are social enterprises can also apply for funding under the Dormant Accounts Fund Social Enterprise Measure. €2.3m in funding was allocated in 2020 and 2021.
In June, the Empowering Communities Programme was announced comprising €2m funding for a Community Engagement Worker in 14 small areas around the country which are experiencing significant disadvantage. This initiative is informed by the Community Development Pilot Programme, which I launched in 2021, to pilot community development initiatives that address poverty, social exclusion and inequality, and promote human rights.
The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion programme. The current iteration runs from 2018 until the end of 2023. Increases in the annual allocations have been achieved over the last couple of years and I was delighted to secure a 10% increase for 2022, the largest increase since the programme began. Over €250 million funding is allocated for the current programming period.
€5.5m funding is available in 2022 to support 29 Volunteer Centres, national organisations such as Volunteer Ireland and to support the implementation of the National Volunteering Strategy. This funding enables Volunteer Centres in each county to play a central role in facilitating and supporting the development of volunteering in their areas.
Targeted supports are provided my Department based on emerging needs of communities. In 2020, €4.2 million was provided under the COVID-19 Emergency Fund which targeted help at groups participating in the Government’s “Community Call” initiative. Through the COVID-19 Stability Fund Stability Fund my Department supported a total of 863 organisations delivering critical services to vulnerable people in 2020 and 2021 with total funding of €48.8 million.
And in June I announced an additional €10.5 million funding under the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme to support people arriving from Ukraine.
I am confident the supports provided by my Department will continue to support and enable the community and voluntary sector to continue to provide valuable much needed services communities throughout the country.
Questions Nos. 87 to 91, inclusive, answered orally.