Question to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (Mr. Phil Hogan, TD)
To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the supports his Department offers community associations to employ staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. – Jerry Buttimer.
For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 5th November, 2013.
REPLY
My Department supports the Community and Voluntary Sector in its contribution to an active, democratic and pluralist society. A key aim of my Department’s activities is enabling communities themselves to identify and address social and economic needs and problems in their own areas. There is a particular focus on supporting communities that are vulnerable, disadvantaged or under threat, and an adherence to the values of local participation. My Department provides a wide range of supports to the Community and Voluntary Sector, through a suite of schemes. A community organisation may qualify for inclusion under one or more of these schemes, should it meet the terms and conditions of a particular scheme managed by my Department. Information on the main schemes is set out below.
The Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) is one of my Department’s main social inclusion programmes. There are 50 Local Development Companies (LDCs) contracted, on my Department’s behalf to deliver the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP), with 35 of those also delivering the LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 (RDP) throughout the country. The LDCs are independent companies with their own board of management and memoranda and articles of association. Both the LDCP and LEADER programme supports include a contribution towards administration and overhead costs including any employment related overheads.
The funding Scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary sector provides multi-annual funding to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. Priority is given under the Scheme to supporting national organisations which provide coalface services to disadvantaged target groups. Core funding refers typically to operating costs that will always need to be met, and are fundamental to the organisation’s survival. The funding normally covers basic organisational and administrative costs of an organisation, and may include items such as salaries, facilities, equipment, communications, and the direct expenses of day-to-day work.
My Department also provides annual funding to members of the Community and Voluntary Pillar of the Social Partnership Process. This funding has been awarded to support costs, not funded from any other sources, directly related to the organisations’ contribution to policy-making in the Social Partnership Process.