To pick up on Deputy Burke's point, there certainly is a constant flow of feedback. Regarding the community activities fund and the community enhancement programme, decisions in terms of local allocations are made by the local community development committees, LCDCs, in a bottom-up approach. The main feedback we get is that the schemes are very popular and are, in fact, oversubscribed, which is why we were glad to put more funding in that direction this year as well. In terms of the strategy, it should fit in with …

The new capital fund will open up that dialogue. One of the advantages of opening a specifically identified and named fund for community centres is that the process of dealing with applications will give us a good sense of the need that exists. It will enhance the conversation with local authorities because we will not always be saying, "Yes, here is your money", especially if the local authority has a clear responsibility in the matter. I take the Deputy's point in that regard. We will be developing more in this s…

Through the Covid-19 stability fund, my Department supported a total of 840 organisations in 2020 and 2021 with total funding of approximately €48 million. That fund is now closed and there are no plans at present for further rounds of the stability fund. The innovate together fund was launched in May 2020 and was administered by Rethink Ireland. This consisted of a €5 million commitment from my Department’s Dormant Accounts Fund and €600,000 from philanthropic donations. The purpose of the fund was to assist organ…

I do not want to stray out of my departmental remit. I will only say yes, we are looking at community employment. On the Deputy’s initial question, the stability fund was our main response to community and voluntary sector for larger groups. A large number of groups were covered under that. The community services support fund was targeted particularly at groups funded under that stream, with groups that needed traded income, or relied on traded income to a fair extent. For example, many community centres using a so…

I will first pick up on Deputy Burke’s point. I think he was talking about a local development company, Avondhu Duhallow, which is in a different realm again. Its funding stayed solid in terms of the programmes it rolls out for Government, be it SICAP or LEADER or whatnot. I am not sure how the local authorities might support it in different ways. On the stability fund, organisations were asked what their earnings were. They were asked for details on their accounts and where they were getting funding. There are che…

On the initial question from Deputy Toibin, charities legislation is not being used. Any organisation can make an application to the District Court under gambling legislation and many do. Lots of sports clubs do so as well.

That is the brief answer to it. Charities legislation is not involved.

I thank the Deputy for the question. As the Deputy is aware, the community employment, CE, scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed-term basis, to improve their prospect of returning to employment. Scheme participants also of course support vital community services across the country. Since restrictions have eased, I have made a point…

What is wrong is Covid-19. I think that is the simple, immediate answer. We are still recovering from it. The referral process is still recovering from it, but it is recovering. In September and October, we had 613 or 614 new starters. Comparably, the figure for October 2019 was 726. We are therefore getting back to a monthly starter rate that is getting closer to normal times. However, on referrals, there have been between 1,200 and 1,500 per month in recent months. It is going in the right direction. The activati…

Yes.

I will take Deputy Calleary’s point first. He may have missed my opening statement. When I talk about CE, I always talk about two halves, the activation side and the service side. I clearly stated that this morning as well. I always acknowledge it. There have been challenges in CE prior to Covid-19 about referral rates. There were issues prior to my time, because of the low unemployment rate or the high employment rate. That did impact referrals to CE. I am not pretending that there were not issues prior to that. T…

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 30th July, 2020, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer, following those next set down to the Minister for Health, shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence: Minister for Rural and Community Development Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine whereupon the sequence established by the Order of 30th July, 2020, shall continue with Questions to the T…

I thank the Deputies who have contributed to this discussion and I welcome the broad support for the proposal. As my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, made clear, this proposed directive amends a directive we have already opted into, namely, EU Directive 2019/1153. The changes included in this directive are minor and practical and will enable us to participate more fully in and reap more benefit from the EU's anti-money laundering framework. The proposed directive was published by the European …

I join with Deputy Cairns and other Deputies in reflecting on the enormous losses of parents as part of this month's marking of pregnancy and infant loss. I do not think anyone in this House will disagree when I say that a stillbirth must be one of the most traumatic events that parents can experience. My own experience of engaging with parents is that the loss can be overwhelming, long-lasting and, importantly, very difficult to reconcile. When legislation to establish a stillbirth register was enacted over 25 yea…

I welcome the short debate on this important matter, which has afforded the House the opportunity to mark the month in which Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day occurs. We know that 300 to 350 families are affected by stillbirths annually. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is also conscious of those parents who register stillbirths on the understanding that the records will not be open to public access. Some formulation should be found to accommodate their needs and wishes. As I said, the Minister of the day se…

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Charities Regulator, under the aegis of my Department, is the State organisation responsible for registering and regulating all of Ireland's charities. It is important to note that the regulator is fully independent in the performance of its statutory functions, including investigations into the activities and conduct of charities. All registered charities in Ireland, and their trustees, are subject to the provisions of the Charities Act 2009. Concerns about charities may be…

It is difficult for me to comment on individual cases, particularly because they are under the purview of the Charities Regulator, but I will try to provide some reassurance. With over 11,000 charities on the register, the work of the regulator is vitally important. All registered charities in Ireland and their trustees are subject to the provisions of the 2009 Act, which sets out comprehensive legal obligations surrounding the definition of charities, their operation and their reporting requirements. The regulator…

Again it is difficult for me to comment without knowing the details of the case but I fully back the Deputy's sentiments on the need for people to have trust in charities. The regulator was established in 2014 and it has been growing its capacity ever since. This will be the first year it will have a full staff complement so it is moving in the right direction. That said, we are proposing changes to the law that frames the regulator. The proposed Bill intends to provide clarity in a number of areas, including accou…

I thank the Deputy for the question. I can confirm that the Department of Rural and Community Development has had no involvement in the establishment of a domestic violence refuge in Carlow. I understand that, in the main, domestic violence issues are a matter for the Minister for Justice and are legislated for in the Domestic Violence Act 2018. My Department's mission is to promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland. A key objective of a…

I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge his point. Since 2018, some 1,138 individuals have been supported through SICAP in Carlow. The supports offered vary in accordance with the individual's circumstances. Examples of such supports are personal development, lifelong learning courses, health and well-being assistance and other labour market supports. In 2019, Carlow County Development Partnership carried out research on family homelessness which highlighted the plight of women affected by domestic violence and the need …