Vol. 470 No. 2
44 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether he intends introducing any measures to deal with the relationship between the Government and the voluntary sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18813/96]
Since becoming Minister, I have taken a number of important steps to improve the relationship between the statutory and voluntary and community sectors as well as the specific supports provided by my Department for local community development initiatives. These include expansion of the community development programme from 70 projects, including island projects and a number of family resource centres, and an annual budget of £2.45 million in 1994——
I did not ask the Minister to outline the history, I asked him what his future intentions are.
I presume I can reply to the question as tabled.
The Deputy will know that the Chair does not have any function when it comes to ministerial replies.
The Minister should answer the question he has been asked.
The Deputy asked whether I intend introducing any measures to deal with the relationship between the Government and the voluntary sector and if I will make a statement on the matter. I am about to do so.
A statement of the Minister's intentions?
If the Deputy has patience, I will answer her question.
Let us hear the reply because I am anxious to get to other Deputies' questions. We are making slow progress today.
We have listened to this rigmarole before.
The question has been put and we will hear the reply.
As long as it is a different reply.
I have only uttered one sentence so I do not understand to what the Deputy is objecting.
There is no point reading the same rigmarole again.
I will continue my reply.
These include:
—expansion of the community development programme from 70 projects, including island projects and a number of family resource centres, and an annual budget of £2.45 million in 1994 to some 100 projects overall and a budget of £4.46 million in 1996;
—a commitment to the proactive targeting of 30 new areas for establishment of new CDP projects over the next three years and the establishment of an expert technical group to assist and advise me in that regard;
—enhancement of the role of the advisory committee to the Community Development Programme, on which projects and support agencies are represented, as a model of good practice in involving the community sector in decision-making and the development of a strategic partnership for social change;
—expansion of the money advice and budgeting service programme from some 25 projects and an annual budget of £750,000 in 1994 to over 40 projects and a budget of £1.96 million in 1996; the expansion of this service so as to make it available throughout the State will be complete within the next year;
—establishment of a once-off £2 million scheme of grants for community support of older people, under which grants are available for community and voluntary organisations to provide certain security equipment and systems at the homes of vulnerable older people;
—an increase of over £2.5 million in my Department's total budget for support of community and voluntary activity since 1994, bringing the total to £11.37 million in 1996.
—rationalisation of the relationship between my Department and the Department of Health in the area of support to voluntary organisations and the transfer of certain individual grants and the respite care scheme and part of the scheme of grants to voluntary organisations to the health services; this transfer was made in the interest of a more coherent system of statutory support for social service providers and eliminated the need for such organisations to apply to two sources for funding for the same services;
—reform of the administration of the grant schemes operated by my Department; the schemes have been regionalised to ensure that those making recommendations on grants are closer to the communities they serve and can make assessments based on local knowledge and priorities;
—transfer of the NSSB to my Department and strengthening of its role in the development of a network of community information centres, including provision of funds for computerisation of the network;
—commissioning of a major independent review of the Combat Poverty Agency, the first of its kind since the Agency's establishment. The review, which will be published shortly, sets out recommendations regarding the future strategic direction for the agency. The results and recommendations from the review are being used as a key input into the development of the next three year strategic plan for the agency which is currently being finalised.
—Perhaps most important of all, the announcement of the development of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy; the strategy is being developed in partnership with the national anti-poverty networks and in extensive consultation with the widest possible range of local community groups;
—The National Anti-Poverty Strategy is designed to fundamentally change the way in which Government tackles the issues of poverty and social exclusion and has involved a widespread consultation process with the voluntary sector, including the national networks, which are funded by the Combat Poverty Agency so as to support the participation of the community sector in policy-making at national level;
—establishment of a commission on the family to advise the Government on policy and support for families, on which the voluntary community sector plays an active part;
—Finally, I have as already announced obtained Government approval to publish a Green Paper on the role of the voluntary community sector and its relation with the State; the Green Paper — which is in place of an earlier decision to publish a White Paper — is intended to stimulate further debate and to facilitate further engagement between the statutory and voluntary sectors in relation to the issues involved. The debate to be facilitated by the Green Paper will help shape future Government policy in relation to the voluntary community sector.
The publication of the Green Paper, the expansion of the money advice and budgeting service and the operation of the scheme of community support for older people are the subject of separate questions to me on today's Order Paper. This allows me the opportunity to give more detailed information on these areas, which I will not go over now.
The steps already taken and future plans I have outlined represent a significant package of measures in support for the community sector and a significant development in the relationship between the sector and the statutory sector. I am committed to further enhancement of the role of the sector and of my Department's support for local community groups in the fight against poverty.
The Minister has no concept of the problems in the voluntary sector when he continues to give such replies. The Minister has misled the House on at least four occasions in the past 12 months about the voluntary sector and the promise to publish the White Paper. When he took office two years ago a White Paper had been drafted.
A question please.
Is it in order for the Deputy to say I misled the House?
That is deemed to be political, without the qualification of being deliberate.
The Minister told us he will now publish a Green Paper, not a White Paper which was ready for publication when he took office. The voluntary sector has moved from a Government statement of definite intent to one of broad intent. Will the Minister apologise to the people in the voluntary sector who trusted his assurances as regards the publication of a White Paper? He has reneged on the promises he made on 5 October, 14 November, 22 February and 20 June in this House. People in the voluntary sector do a great deal of fund raising. They believed a White Paper was ready to be published when the Government collapsed. However, it has now been changed to a Green Paper.
I welcome the Deputy's concern for the voluntary sector. When she considers the extensive reply I have given, I am sure she will recognise my commitment to the voluntary sector which is unmatched by any previous Minister for Social Welfare.
Why did the Minister cancel the White Paper?
If the Deputy reads the reply she will see that rather than publishing a White Paper, which was already out of date when I took office, it was more important to initiate measures which would be of assistance to the voluntary sector and would involve it, as I have done, in a range of activities in which the Department is engaged. We have already discussed the task force on security for the elderly, the national anti-poverty strategy and the commission on the family in which the voluntary sector is engaged. I have done more to involve the voluntary sector in the process of consultation and decision making than any previous Minister.
It would be irresponsible to publish a White Paper which was already out of date when I took office and is even more out of date now. We need to address the current issues, not those of three or four years ago, not only in relation to funding but also in relation to the relationship between the Department of Social Welfare, the health boards, the local authorities, FÁS, etc., which deliver a service. We also need to look at how they relate to the voluntary sector, which also provides services, and we must ensure that there is coherence in the areas of financing and decision-making. I will provide some more information on the Green Paper, if the Deputies are not too impatient, which relates to terminology.
There is no point trying to pretend the White Paper is out of date. It was ready in December 1994 when Deputy De Rossa became Minister. We asked him this time last year what the delay was in publishing it. He said he wanted to have his own input into it and would publish it before the end of the year. On 14 November, he said he would publish it early in the new year. On 22 February, he said he would publish it shortly.
We must proceed by way of questions. It is not a time for statements. The Deputy will put her contribution in the form of a question.
It does not matter because the Minister will not answer any question we put to him.
It matters greatly Deputy. We have procedures which we will abide by.
I wish the Minister would reply to the questions asked of him. There is the basic question of whether he will apologise to the voluntary sector, apart from the apology he owes to this House for misleading us on four different occasions. Then there are the excuses he used. He said he was a new Minister so he wanted his own input and he used the tired old cliché of blaming the previous Administration. Then he said he would have to wait for his Cabinet colleagues to examine it so he blamed them for further delays. All we have had is one excuse after another over the past two years delaying the much needed White Paper.
Do we have a question, Deputy? Other Deputies are offering.
The question is straightforward. Why did the Minister mislead us on four occasions and then add insult to injury in September of this year by announcing we were going back to a Green Paper instead of publishing a White Paper? That is a straightforward question, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Perhaps we could have a straight answer.
It must be obvious to the Deputy that if there was a White Paper ready for publication in the Department when I became Minister and it was a good one dealing with the necessary issues, I would have been only too delighted to publish it and claim credit for it. The fact is it was a nonsense. It was out of date when I arrived in the Department. It is even more out of date now.
The Minister was a long time coming.
I tried——
The Minister has a long way to go to catch up with his commitments.
Let us hear the reply. Time is almost over.
It was the Minister who gave a commitment to the House and who misled it on a White Paper.
I did not mislead the House.
Why did he tell us on four occasions——
Time is almost exhausted. We are wasting valuable time. Deputies who are offering will be disappointed when I decided the time has expired. We are using colleagues' valuable time.
We cannot get answers.
May we have the Minister without interruption, please?
The Minister will not answer anything we ask him. This charade is absolutely crazy.
I did not mislead the House. I declared my intentions regarding the White Paper from the date I came into the Department. I attempted often——
The Minister said he would do it shortly, in the near future, before the end of the year and early in the New Year.
This is called openness, transparency and accountability.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, may I have the opportunity to reply?
Let us hear the reply. We are finished now anyway.
I attempted often to make the White Paper relevant. The fact is it was already out of date and so many things were initiated by me in Government that, as time went on, it became more out of date. It makes sense that we should issue a Green Paper which takes into account all that I have done, which I outlined in my earlier reply, in relation to the development of the relationship between Government and the voluntary sector and to enable it to make their views known on what has been done and what might be done in the future. The Deputies are simply trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Answer the question.
I have answered the question. I reject utterly——
Has the Minister any concept of his responsibility to this House?
I am endeavouring to facilitate Deputy Dan Wallace. I will not be able to.
The Deputy has no concept of how to act as a Deputy.
The Minister has no concept of his responsibility to this House. He misled the House on four occasions on this matter.
I did not mislead the House.
Tell us the truth.
Misleading the House is a serious charge.
Could I please answer the question?
We can give the Minister the core dates again: 5 October——
I will not be able to call Deputy Wallace and he knows the reason.
The Green Paper will cover issues such as suggested principles which should underpin the relationship between the State and the voluntary sector——
The Green Paper will be going backwards.
——including the matter of representation in national policy-making fora, suggestions regarding the method and source of funding for national representative structures for the voluntary sector, criteria to be attached to funding generally by statutory agencies, issues relating to charitable staff and taxation issues, effective consultation mechanisms already in place both nationally and at EU level and the reasons for their effectiveness and areas which could be usefully explored where models of statutory voluntary sector co-operation should be actively encouraged. The Green Paper is intended to stimulate further debate and to facilitate further engagement between the statutory sector and voluntary sectors in relation to the issues involved.
Further debate means further talk.
The debate to be facilitated by the Green Paper will help shape future Government policy in relation to the community sector.
