I also want to mention the role of drug task forces. Local and regional drug and alcohol task forces implement the national drug strategy in the context of the needs of their local areas. The strategy is implemented through action plans that have identified existing and emerging gaps in supply reduction, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research. In my own area, I would mention the North Dublin Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force. I am doing a piece of work with it now that in some respects is pushing the…

In 2019, my Department published Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities: A Five-Year Strategy to Support the Community and Voluntary Sector in Ireland 2019-2024. The strategy reaffirms the Government’s commitment to supporting the sector and addressing some of the burdens faced by service providers, while also recognising the reality of finite resources and the need to ensure that available resources are focused on providing effective services. The strategy commits to developing appropriate compliance and…

I thank the Deputy for raising that particular point. I will take the opportunity to acknowledge all the board members across the country who do all the unseen work behind the scenes, much of which is tough drudgery and administrative work that does not always get acknowledged and seen. We are doing a needs assessment. We are currently working on a research programme to establish the skills and training needs within the sector to provide opportunities where gaps exist and to help to signpost existing resources wher…

I take the Deputy's point about costs. We have different levels of funding for different types of organisations. The level the Deputy is talking about tends in many cases to get support via LCDCs and the community support fund we are in the process of rolling out across local authorities at the moment. We announced last year that €10 million would be available to grassroots groups, of which there are hundreds in every local authority area. That fund is particularly effective at reaching some of those costs but perh…

I thank the Deputy for the question. PPNs provide representation for the community sector in local policymaking, giving local groups a say in local government decisions that affect their communities. There is a PPN in each of the 31 local authority areas and membership of a PPN is open to volunteer-led and not-for-profit groups in each area. The network has grown substantially since its establishment and over 18,500 groups nationwide are now registered with their local PPN. In line with the programme for Government…

Authentic engagement can take a bit of time sometimes and PPNs are specifically set up with a flat structure. That makes them difficult when it comes to decision-making sometimes and that has been recognised. I was also very conscious of what the Deputy listed, but it has been done in conjunction with the PPNs, so participatory and co-design processes are being used to ensure stakeholders are actively involved in designing the actions that will affect PPNs over the coming years. We have 18,500 members and we want t…

It is important to say the PPNs are independent structures and are funded independently. We gave them a significant budgetary increase last year as well. I have a couple of important points to add. On foot of the findings from the PPN structural review, the Department is commissioning research to investigate any potential barriers to involvement in PPNs. The research will explore the demographic characteristics of groups currently involved in PPNs and make recommendations on increasing participation of any underrep…

I thank the Deputy for the question. Since the beginning of 2022, Ireland and many other European countries have experienced a significant increase of new arrivals seeking international protection. As of 26 May, there are over 20,600 people accommodated in the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, system as a whole, compared with 11,000 people at this time last year. Combined with the arrival of over 73,000 people displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this is the largest displacement of peo…

The Government is developing a more strategic long-term plan to deal with the allocation of accommodation in consultation with local government. Government is also developing a more systematic approach to communicate with local communities. A tender process was initiated by the Department of the Taoiseach on 25 April to seek support and advice in the development of effective public communication in response to the movement of refugees and asylum seekers into communities across the country. This is a short-term cont…

I assure the Deputy there are layers of communication across all levels of Government. At the highest level, we have the Cabinet subcommittee on Ukraine. We also have a senior officials' group. At a local level, we have community response forums, which are co-ordinated at a higher level by the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, and County and City Management Association, CCMA. I engage on a monthly basis with a series of NGO stakeholders that work on the ground and with Departments on co-ordination. We have …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important and welcome debate. I thank all the Deputies who participated. I listened to almost all their contributions, including on my way to the House. The debate has been useful. The Department continues proactively to secure shelter from multiple sources to accommodate those fleeing the war in Ukraine and those applying for international protection. It has been extremely challenging to adapt existing systems to help meet the needs of those arriving here in a vulner…

The seniors alert scheme provides funding for a free personal monitored alarm for people aged 65 or older and of limited means. The scheme is intended to support older people to live securely and independently in their homes. It is funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and administered by Pobal, with the support of local community and voluntary groups. The Deputy will be aware of the good work undertaken on the employment support schemes operated by the Department of Social Protection. These s…

We have a network of community and voluntary organisations throughout the country that should cover every geographic area. There are responsible community organisations in every area. If the Deputy believes a particular area is not properly covered, we would like to know about it. The organisations are effective in getting the word out. They use CE, Tús or RSS participants in the process of getting the word out and the equipment in and connecting it and so on. Some of them also use full-time paid employees to do th…

As the Deputy was speaking, two things occurred to me that we could do in terms of joined-up thinking. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, which falls under the Department of Rural and Community Development, funds several friendly call service programmes nationally which contact older, often isolated, people by telephone. It grew up over Covid. Maybe we can ask those services to spread the word about the senior alert scheme. With regard to joining up two Departments as well, I can talk t…

The RSS implementing bodies undertake a diverse range of activities including the regeneration and enhancement of community spaces, environmental maintenance work and the staffing of cultural, tourism and heritage sites. I acknowledge the excellent work undertaken and the contribution these schemes and their workers make to communities across the country. The RSS has a budget of more than €51 million in 2023 and currently has more than 2,800 participants. The Deputy will be aware that the six-year participation lim…

I thank the Deputies. I dispute the fact but I understand why people are concerned and that they would think it might drag on. I am determined that it is going to be as tight as possible. At the same time, we need to get the views in. I want to refresh it. I do not just want to make one or two tweaks to it. The scheme has huge potential in the long term and there are opportunities that we need to consider, which perhaps the RSS has not gone into before. Ostensibly, it is labelled as an income support scheme but the…

I would not question the Deputy's knowledge on the RSS ever. He will know too the answer that I am able to give, that I will use the phrase, "It is a budgetary matter", and that I do not control the strings in the middle of a budget year. I attended the first meeting of the review group. It was very clear that the income side of it came up there as well. We had 1,000 submissions to the questionnaire we put out. There is a bit of that in the process there. I would be very surprised if proposals around increasing the…

I will explain how we do engagement ahead of a new accommodation centre opening. As soon as a contract gets agreed, either I or the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, or close staff, will share a briefing, that is approximately six or seven pages long, on the details of that accommodation centre with all the local elected representatives. The problem is that the timeline between when the contract is agreed and when we get to share that information and move people in is quite tight. In relation to the tender, the Department…

I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. Early learning and childcare capacity is monitored by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on an ongoing basis, with a particular focus on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of the Department through the early years sector profile survey are an important data source th…

The Government, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and I understand the challenges faced by parents in Fingal county. There is a clear need. It is one of the counties with the lowest vacancies rates in the country. I checked this before I came in. Interestingly and usefully, a data collection exercise on the early years sector will start tomorrow. Pobal will lead that. It will give us a more up-to-date sense of what is happening on the ground. There are clearly still issues in west Dublin and beyond. The updated data w…