In August 2019, my Department launched Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, the strategy to support the community and voluntary sector in Ireland. This strategy was developed in consultation with the cross-sectoral group and a work plan to progress its implementation has been agreed. Work in 2021 is ongoing in respect of a number of the objectives outlined in the strategy including: a training needs assessment to identify gaps and make recommendations on how best to build capacity in the sector; a draf…

I will provide more detail on the training side of things as the Deputy brought it up. We have prioritised training in this year's action plan, which comes under the community and voluntary sector five-year strategy. The cross-sectoral group has prioritised training. There are three aspects to that. First, the process is ongoing and there will be a report on the training needs of local communities and development committees by the end of June. The second aspect relates to voluntary board members of community and vo…

I thank the Deputy. We are in the process of scoping out where multi-annual funding might begin to grow. As part of the process, we have to pin down exactly what we are funding and what Departments are funding organisations. We do not fund all community and voluntary organisations, of which a large number - 11,000 - are registered with the Charities Regulator. To give the Deputy a little more information on that development in terms of the scoping exercise, the Department recently entered into an agreement with Pob…

A range of my Department's programmes contribute to the enhancement of community facilities. They include a €4.5 million 2021 community enhancement programme, which was launched on 10 May. The programme provides grants to enhance facilities in disadvantaged areas and is administered by the local community development committees, LCDCs, in each local authority area. A €49 million CSP for 2021 supports 420 community organisations to provide local, social, economic and environmental services. Another programme is the …

The Department makes quite an effort in terms of getting the information out. Pobal will be of assistance in making applications. I also direct people to local development companies and local authorities. Some of the funding schemes have different ways of applying. The rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, will generally need to go through the local authority, so engagement with the local authority would be important. Some applications for the outdoor recreation scheme can come through the local developmen…

Deputy Richmond touched on a fair point. We use many acronyms such as LCDCs, local development companies and PPNs. It is important for local communities to recognise them. I draw attention to a piece of work we are doing at the moment, with the public participation networks. There are 15,000 community group members of public participation networks, PPNs, throughout the country. We are doing a review of PPNs at present, in terms of how they operate, but also how the public is aware of them. We will be doing an aware…

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter. The Charities Regulator, under the aegis of my Department, is the State organisation responsible for registering and regulating all of Ireland's charities, with a mandate to promote good governance practices. 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 …

My statement is defined by the fact that there is a criminal investigation. I am obviously limited in terms of the detail I can give. Under the provisions of the Charities Act 2009, however, the Charities Regulator works closely with other regulatory bodies and organisations to uphold the integrity of charitable organisations and trusts. In late 2018, the Charities Regulator introduced the charities governance code, which sets out the minimum standards that charity trustees should ensure are met within their charit…

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefiting 230,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to enable them to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. The Government has provided €65 million for the school meal…

I appreciate the disappointment and frustration for the 92 schools that submitted an expression of interest in accessing the hot school meals programme and were not selected, including the schools referred to by Deputies Murphy and Smith. The level of demand for the programme is a clear sign of the need for its expansion and that is something to which the Minister and I are committed. Since the start of the pandemic we have worked with our colleagues in the Government to ensure that funding continued to be provided…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. He will be aware that this Government is committed to supporting and enabling a strong community sector. It is my role to ensure that is delivered. In addition to the commitments in Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities: A Five-Year Strategy to Support the Community and Voluntary Sector in Ireland 2019-2024, published in August 2019, there is a very specific commitment in the programme for Government to introduce, on a phased basis, a number of projects simila…

I thank the Senator for laying out the details of what the community has done in getting the project running. It is always very impressive when volunteer work at that level brings something to life. I want to add a couple of points on the applications. They will be assessed and scored in accordance with the marking scheme set out, and that reflects the pilot programme aim, objectives and eligibility criteria. Consideration will be given to a number of other issues, such as geographic and regional spread and the ran…

Civil society, NGOs, the community and voluntary sector or however one wants to frame it - normal people coming together in an organised way around a particular cause - have been at the forefront of much positive change in Irish society down the generations. That has been the case with the causes of social justice and equality, but it has also been the case with the environmental movement and, more recently, the climate movement. People coming together and speaking with a coherent voice and in large numbers telling…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,557 schools and organisations, benefiting 227,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of food of good quality, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. The Government has prov…

School 2 receives the cold lunch option at the moment. That is what the €42,000 is for.

Exactly.

I appreciate the disappointment and frustration for all 92 schools that submitted an expression of interest to access hot school meals and were not selected, including the school in question. The level of demand for the programme is a clear sign of the need for its expansion. I will raise the matter with the Minister. Officials from the Department have contacted all schools selected and are in the process of considering responses. If schools that have been selected decide not to proceed, we can reallocate the place…

On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address this issue in the House today. As the House is aware, the Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. Part of that change is about investing in major public transport infrastructure projects such as MetroLink in Dublin. Investing in public transport benefits citizens through making it easier to travel to where they want to go. It benefits the environment t…

The studies undertaken for the emerging preferred route alignment identified that locations close to Collins Avenue and at Griffith Avenue were appropriate for stations. If the provision of a station at Albert College Park was to be advanced, it would need to be in the same vicinity as the proposed intervention shaft. As noted at a recent meeting with residents' groups and local representatives, this would require a larger permanent land take than required for the intervention shaft. A larger construction area and …