Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 June 2004
11 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the position with regard to implementing the White Paper on voluntary activity; the progress being made in the formal review of the workings of the White Paper’s implementation advisory group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16791/04]
Amharc ar fhreagra37 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if, in line with the Government White Paper on supporting voluntary activity, he has appointed a voluntary activity unit responsible for his Department’s co-operation with voluntary and community organisations; if so, the unit’s personnel, activities and work to date; if not, the reason therefore; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16673/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 37 together.
The White Paper, A Framework for Supporting Voluntary Activity and for Developing the Relationship between the State and the Community and Voluntary Sector, states the Government's long-term strategy to develop and support the community and voluntary sector. It details a range a recommendations and funding initiatives which have been considered by the implementation and advisory group established to progress them. In September 2003, I announced the successful applicants for two major White Paper funding initiatives in the community and voluntary sector. These were the funding scheme to support the role of federations, networks and umbrella bodies and the funding scheme for training and supports. The schemes will direct approximately €7.4 million in funding to 56 organisations in the community and voluntary sector over the coming three years.
A consultation paper on establishing a modern statutory framework for charities was posted on the Department's website on 17 December 2003. The White Paper indicated that a review of the implementation and advisory group should take place after three years. Work on the review is continuing in my Department and I expect it to be concluded in the coming months. The designation of voluntary activity support units in relevant Departments to support the relationship between the State and the community and voluntary sector was one of the recommendations in the White Paper. The tasks envisaged by the White Paper for such units include monitoring the relationship between the State and the community and voluntary sector and liaison with the sector regarding policy development and service and programme delivery.
My own Department has a number of voluntary activity units. Each unit liaises with the sector on policy development and service delivery in the programme areas for which it is responsible. The voluntary and community services section comprises 25 staff. It is responsible for departmental policy in the areas of volunteering and corporate social responsibility and administers a range of grant schemes to support the community and voluntary sector. The local development section has six staff and is responsible for departmental policy in the areas of local development and RAPID and the day-to-day management of these programmes. The drugs strategy unit comprises ten staff and is responsible for co-ordinating the implementation of the national drugs strategy in conjunction with 14 local drugs task forces and ten regional drugs task forces. The Leader section comprises ten staff and is responsible for the management of the Leader programme. The Gaeltacht and islands division has 63 staff and is responsible for policy on the Gaeltacht and the Irish language. The division is also responsible for the administration of a variety of grants for Gaeltacht and island communities.
How would the Minister of State respond to the implementation and advisory group member who has asked what is happening to the White Paper on voluntary activity? The answer is, "Very little." Not everybody is happy with the progress being made. The two funding schemes were several years late in coming into operation. The income level of one was 53% lower than originally projected. The three initiatives undertaken so far this year were the conference, the charities legislation, with which we have dealt, and the review of the implementation and advisory group. I find it alarming when a member of the group says very little is happening on foot of the White Paper on voluntary activity.
While I acknowledge what the Deputy says about the funding schemes, they worked out quite successfully. There was a period in late 2002 and early 2003 when they went through a sticky patch with funding which they might not have survived. The outcome has been very successful given how unlikely it seemed the schemes would survive at one stage. The implementation and advisory group was established for a three-year period and it is now under review. The members have been asked for their comments. We must find the best way forward. Different people had different perceptions of what progress could be made. The Department was established in the meantime and we have been trying to co-ordinate the work of various groups. There have been different priorities at different phases.
Overall, while it has not perhaps reached some people's expectations, much progress has been made and much work has been done by the IAG. Many of the recommendations in the White Paper have been implemented or are on the way to being implemented.
Why have some of the modest recommendations in the White Paper not been implemented? A sum of £0.5 million or perhaps €0.5 million was to be put aside for a study to measure the extent of volunteerism. That is a quite obvious measure which would give us a base reference in terms of the scale and quality of volunteerism in Ireland in the year 2000, when the report came out, but it has not been brought into being. A budget cut of that nature casts doubt on the sincerity of whether we want to know the extent of volunteerism in our society, and if we do not want to know, what we are prepared to do to support it. The Minister of State might give some indication when or if that minor recommendation is likely to be implemented.
The figure involved was some £400,000, equivalent to about €500,000. We did not go ahead with the recommendation and the decision was deferred. We felt that the grants to the groups under the scheme and the training scheme were the priorities, so the recommendation in question fell.
In the overall context, the issue was relatively small, though big in the Department's context. If it were a question of funding academics and universities to do research, there was doubt about that being a real priority at the time and whether very scarce resources should be allotted in that way. Decision was deferred on that aspect of the research funding and it is not the intention to revive it in the short term.
That being the case, would it not be in order for the Department to propose that in the next census people should be asked if they engaged in volunteerism, to what degree and what sort of volunteering work, whether environmental work, work with sporting bodies, work with younger or older people? Let us at least get the base figures for the degree of volunteering. The Department would then be better able to make decisions it needs to make with regard to its resources.
We have the White Paper on voluntary activity. The other report is Tipping the Balance. I note some frustration in the sector regarding the implementation of recommendations. Tipping the Balance is a sort of parallel paper to the White Paper. Does the Department intend to develop legislation based on the recommendations in Tipping the Balance?
Tipping the Balance is still under consideration. We are not currently planning legislation. What we try to do, and what the Department was set up to do, is pull together many of the different task forces, the CDPs and partnerships and so on. We have been reluctant to fund another layer of volunteer bureaux.
The Deputy's idea has merit but we have been trying to encourage the existing system and encourage the various bodies in what they are doing. It would be contradictory if the Department tried to co-ordinate many of the existing local development structures with another section of the Department forming a new layer. We are trying to get them all to work together and then see how, within the new structure, we can have more volunteer bureaux. We want the existing structures involved rather than a new one. The matter is still under consideration but that is how our thinking goes. Could Deputy Boyle clarify his point?
I suggest contacting the Central Statistics Office in order to have a census question asked.
Some study has been carried out regarding the value of volunteering activity, which is enormous. Traditionally, many people involve themselves in volunteering without calling it that. If one were to quantify volunteering and pay for it, it would involve several hundred million euro annually. It represents an enormous effort and contribution by people to the State, though most people would not see it in those terms. Some studies have quantified the value. I understand the Deputy's suggestion.
It has been stated to me that through the organisation Business in Community people with a great deal to offer in terms of expertise and experience are available. The problem is that there is no mechanism for matching them up to projects. This is a real concern. If it can be eliminated by introducing the sort of structure that can match up people in the business community who are prepared to make their services available in the voluntary sector, we should do everything possible to ensure this happens.
There are many such initiatives. There are pilot projects and schemes under way, though none fully developed. Businesses and business people can be very supportive and helpful to individual groups. This links back to the charities area. Many business people would like to see more charity relief from the tax and revenue side. They would like the system to offer them better encouragement to fund charitable organisations.
This area is developing. I accept there is much in the White Paper which would help to push it forward. The fundamental aim of the Department was to do what we were set up to do, to bring some co-ordination into what was there, and then work forward from that foundation.
12 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if his Department has undertaken an estimation of the value of the contribution of volunteers to the economy; when the last estimate was taken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16799/04]
Amharc ar fhreagra20 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he has plans to establish a national policy on volunteering to be housed within his Department and to co-operate with other relevant Government Departments, agencies and the social partners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16800/04]
Amharc ar fhreagra26 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he has plans to establish more volunteer bureaus here than the 11 bureaus that already exist; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the optimal number of bureaus required here is between 25 and 37; if he has plans to commit to the development of an infrastructure for volunteering to include up to 25 bureaus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16798/04]
Amharc ar fhreagra34 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he intends to publish legislation based on the recommendations contained in Tipping the Balance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16803/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 20, 26 and 34 together.
The issues raised by the Deputies are ones which have been addressed in Tipping the Balance, the report of the national committee on volunteering. The report contained a number of recommendations on a range of complex and cross-cutting issues, including recommendations for the development of volunteering policy and for the establishment of a State-supported volunteering infrastructure involving the establishment of a national office and a nationwide network of volunteer bureaux.
The process of examination and consideration of the report's recommendations, having due regard to budgetary considerations, is continuing in my Department. In that regard a sub-group of the implementation and advisory group, established under the terms of the White Paper on supporting voluntary activity, is currently examining the report with a view to identifying how the recommendations might be progressed. Its work will contribute to my Department's consideration of the report.
With regard to the most recent estimate of the economic value of volunteering, I would refer the Deputy to the 1999 report of the John Hopkins University and the National College of Ireland, "Uncovering the non-profit sector in Ireland", which puts the imputed value of volunteering at £470.7 million in 1995 terms.
The question of legislation, should it arise, and any other issues arising from the examination of the report, such as a current estimation of the economic value of volunteering, will be considered on conclusion of my Department's examination.
Business in the Community gave a figure to the Joint Oireachtas Committee showing that in 1995 volunteering was worth £580 million. The figure for 1999 given by John Hopkins University is less than that. I do not know what this indicates. It may indicate that different methods of measuring were implemented for the two surveys. However, in the context of last year's Special Olympics, the figure must have been extraordinarily high.
The Minister would agree that a fine resource exists comprising those who voluntarily want to contribute to their communities and various community groups. There should be a better focus in terms of maximising the return to the community from this group. To have people volunteering is different from having money coming in from various companies and is a more valuable input. While it is a considerable resource, it would appear from the answers given that the Department could be moving faster to help make the most of what is available.
To some extent the Deputy has a point. However, while it may not be moving at the speed we would like, the fundamental aim of the Department was to get a grip on the issue. It is only recently that the sub-committee of the implementation and advisory group, IAG, was set up specifically to consider the Tipping the Balance programme. While progress might be slow, the IAG considered the charities issue. The group's establishment of the sub-committee led to a bubble of interest and an increased number of parliamentary questions on the issue. Much is happening and we will make more progress on this from now on.
