Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 November 2014

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Ceisteanna (162)

Seán Kyne

Ceist:

162. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that volunteer centres across the country are to lose funding arising from the restructuring of the local development companies system which heretofore has allocated what has come to be known as the 1% funding for encouraging volunteering to the volunteer centres; if his attention has been further drawn to the fact that such funding will be unintentionally lost in the transition to the new SICAP funding programme; and if he will provide this funding from the departmental budget to ensure that the volunteer centres are not negatively impacted. [45561/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The Government continues to advance a range of measures that support volunteering and active citizenship. My Department funds a network of twenty one volunteer centres. It also provides funding to Volunteer Ireland, the national volunteer development agency. The focus of Volunteer Ireland is to create an enabling environment for volunteering, to develop an ethos of volunteerism across all sectors of society and to be an independent and legitimate voice for volunteering.

The volunteer centres act as ‘brokers’ between potential volunteers and organisations seeking volunteers. They also work with organisations to develop their volunteer management capacity and facilitate Garda vetting for smaller organisations.

The budget for the Local and Community Development Programme included a portion of funding for volunteering supports. Following the transition to the new Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme, this will be centralised with other supports through my Department. Details of funding allocations for individual Volunteer Centres will be made available after the publication of the Revised Estimates Volume 2015.