Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023
1399. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when she will consider opening a scheme in order that highly used community centres can avail of funding to appoint full-time administrators. [28154/23]
View answerMy Department's Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports over 420 community-based organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model. CSP provides an annual co-funding contribution towards each full-time equivalent (FTE) position being supported, and, where warranted, towards the cost of employing a manager.
The CSP contribution is not aligned to the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts. The CSP contribution must be co-funded by the organisation concerned from other sources, for example, from income received from the public use of their facilities and services.
The CSP supports community-based organisations to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model. It typically supports organisations to meet local service gaps and provide access to services and facilities that would otherwise generally be unavailable.
The CSP supports a range of services, facilities and activities that enhance the quality of life for specific disadvantaged groups including older people, persons with disabilities, Travellers and those most vulnerable within our communities to support them to live independently. The types of services supported include community halls, sports and resource centres.
My department announced a new call for proposals in March 2023. Full details were provided on my department's and Pobal's websites and were notified to organisations who had expressed an interest in inclusion in the programme. A series of information events and pre-support workshops were also held to ensure potential applicants were fully equipped with the information that they needed to apply for this funding. At this stage, the application window for this new call is closed. No further calls are anticipated at this time, however the matter will be kept under review.
