I will again mention the local authorities. If good proposals are brought to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and me for the development of projects that will help communities, we will certainly look at them. They will be rigorously analysed, assessed and evaluated. Big projects on substantial areas of land, as mentioned by the Deputy, need the backing of the local authority as well. We work well with local authorities to get projects like that off the ground and completed. We welcome good applications under the var…

I thank the Deputy for his question. My Department’s mission is to promote rural and community development and support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland. The underlying basis for all funding delivered through my Department's community development programmes is to enable communities to identify and address their own needs in this context. In effect, the objective is to empower communities to represent themselves and get involved in addressing the challenges they face. SICAP is the Gov…

Decisions on particular allocations for the community animation aspect of SICAP are rolled out to the local development companies. Based on the need presenting to them, they will decide what level of worker should be involved. It is the individual community worker who is engaged under SICAP. The programme is responsive in that sense. There is no set, defined allocation by central government as to what sum goes to community animation. All the local development companies have their particular allocations for the leng…

It is important to mention the PPNs in this regard. In many respects, they are the most comprehensive network of community and voluntary organisations around the country. We fund their support workers as well to build their own capacity. I do not want to leave the PPNs out of this discussion because they are playing a key role. I also do not want to leave out the empowering communities programme either. It is a smaller programme, which contains 14 projects at the moment. We hope to expand it a little bit this year.…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2023 before the House. The passing of this Bill is an essential step to enhance and strengthen the existing framework for regulating charities in Ireland. The charity sector plays a crucial role in connecting the wider public with opportunities to support and improve communities and society at large. It also plays an integral role in the provision of services to our communities. Accordin…

I thank all the Deputies who contributed to the debate. I appreciate the broad support for the Bill. I will use my time to address some of the issues raised. Reference was made to crowd funding platforms, including GoFundMe. Crowd funding tends to occur where a person or group seeks donations for an individual or a specific cause, such as seeking funds to pay for treatment for someone who is ill. In most instances, the requisite public benefit element of the charity test would not be met in such cases and they woul…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 181(1).

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I will give an initial response and then follow up with further information in my second reply. The community recognition fund is managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development and delivered locally by each of the local authorities around the country. The €50 million fund was introduced this time last year and I was delighted, together with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to be able to announce the details of the successful projects last M…

To clarify, the Government is looking at how we can further support impacted towns and villages across a range of different public services. I look forward to seeing the proposals that emerge on that in the coming weeks. For now, specifically in relation to community recognition, the focus is very much on getting the approved projects delivered on the ground. These projects can only make a difference when they are operational and my Department is committed to working with all parties to ensure that happens as quick…

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the motion. I was glad to cede the time given for the planned charities Bill, which will instead be taken on Thursday. The Irish public has watched with increasing horror the events of the past 100 days unfold. International human rights law is very important, but we do not need to be versed in it to see that what has been visited on the Palestinian people since October has been motivated by the desire to exact revenge and punishment with extreme disregard for civili…

I thank the Deputy for the question. My Department administers a number of funding programmes addressing integration in communities on the basis of annual or multi-annual open calls for funding. The Department will also offer several funding calls of a similar nature in 2024. Each of these funding calls is run in a transparent and competitive manner, with applicants given detailed guidance on the particular criteria of each call. When assessing applications to open calls, the assessors consider the need to achieve …

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has a geographical focus for grant applications, as I outlined. I am also a Minister of State in the Department of Rural and Community Development, which provides social inclusion and community activation programme allocations and allocations to volunteer centres. Going into 2024, we are specifically looking at the numbers of new arrivals, both international protection applicants and Ukrainians in each local development company area. That is a …

As I mentioned, there are checks and balances. There is independent oversight of the grant process. The Deputy’s figures are based on the number of requests for funding. There is another cut-off point in terms of viable projects as well. Sometimes we get requests for funding where the projects do not add up in terms of what has been put forward. That is where the independent set of eyes comes into play. That said, we need as many resources as we can for community projects. The Ireland Against Racism fund is a good …

Since early 2022, Ireland has provided accommodation to more than 99,000 people, between those fleeing Ukraine and international protection applicants. This includes more than 73,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection, BOTPs, and more than 25,000 international protection applicants currently in international protection accommodation services, IPAS, accommodation. Prior to the war in Ukraine, there were 8,300 applicants for international protection in State-supported accommodation. My Department is focused on the…

I do not have enough time to list all the things we are doing, but we have a range of funds, including local funds and national funds. For example, the grants under the national integration fund and the asylum migration fund will be announced in the first quarter of next year. There are many other important initiatives. Each local authority has a local economic and community plan. They should be addressing migrant integration in that space. We have funding rolled out to local authorities to appoint local authority …

I am happy to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of partnership companies. They are probably one of our key partners on the ground that are facilitating integration, particularly through the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. We have an additional €10 million allocation for work with Ukrainians and international protection applicants that we secured last year, but also for 2024. In addition to that, we secured an increase in the budget of 6% under SICAP. I acknowledge the amazing …

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. On behalf of the Minister for Education, I will outline the plans for additional post-primary school places in Blanchardstown west. For school planning purposes, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including child benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity, is used for this purpos…

I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to outline the position to the House on post-primary school places in Blanchardstown west. There are currently a number of active projects at post-primary level in the Blanchardstown west school planning area, which will increase local capacity. The current status of large-scale projects being delivered under Project Ireland 2040 may be viewed on the Department's website and this information is updated regularly. In addition, a list of large-scale projects completed…

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley, who is otherwise engaged. I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides the Department with the opportunity to clarify the current position of St Anne’s Secondary School, Rosanna Road, Tipperary town. The answer I have is largely from the Department of Education. The school meals programme is largely administered by the Department of Social Protection. I wanted to put that proviso at the start…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue and for giving the Department the opportunity to reassure the House that the Department is committed to ensuring that all children can access education suitable to their needs. I take the Senator's point in regard to the school meals programme. Deputy Humphreys and I are committed to rolling this out to as wide a group as possible. There has been significant growth in this over recent years. The coming 12 months will see one of the biggest leaps we have made. It is a no-br…