2026-02-05

1. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the measures in place to support community centres with ongoing operational pressures such as energy, insurance, and staffing costs, beyond one off capital grants. [8731/26]

This is a fairly straightforward question with which he will be familiar. I am seeking to understand and to get some information from the Minister of State in relation to those non-capital grants. We understand the capital grants and the schemes but I ask about the actual level of funding that is available to cover those costs, such as energy, insurance, staffing, etc. This relates to the stream of funding that will go beyond the capital grants.

I thank the Deputy for her very important question. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are aware of the challenges that many large community groups that operate community centres face in relation to the operation and staffing costs. In our consultation processes for the new strategy for the community and voluntary sector, it has emerged as an issue of concern. As the Deputy knows, the community and voluntary sector is quite diverse and receives financial support through a variety and wide range of funding programmes and schemes from several Government Departments and agencies, including our Department. Our Department's community service programme, CSP, for the four year period from 2023 to 2027 currently supports the delivery of 445 local services, which is 426 organisations. It is a total allocation of €59.4 million for this year alone. Some 78 community centres and other community facilities are funded under the CSP, supporting a total of 380 staff posts, 53 managers and 327 full-time equivalent staff. This amount of total funding allocated is €36.2 million over the current five-year timeframe of this programme. In line with the programme for Government commitment and together with the Minister, our Department last year announced our intention to hold an open call early this year on the new CSP programme. The design of this open call is under way. Details, including eligible community services and organisations, will be announced in the coming weeks. In the Gaeltacht region, there is a comprehensive development approach to managing the increased demand for funding from Gaeltacht community development organisations, with a 59% direct increase in funding to these organisations. Both the Minister and I are very much aware of the issues and challenges our community centres, which are operated in the main by voluntary boards, are facing.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The purpose of the question was to try to isolate those specific funding streams separate from grants that will contribute towards the physical running. The Minister of State is right that they are in the main run by volunteer boards. However, they are employers as well. It makes things very tricky. There have been welcome increases in the minimum wage. That has a knock-on consequence for other people who are working. Costs like energy in particular are rising. What we saw in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn and Storm Chandra was how badly exposed some, although not all, community centres were. They are a bit of a beacon in the community. People think when everything is gone they will head to the community centre and it is like a hub. In some instances, they were not sufficiently staffed to be able to respond. They are now having to cope with the energy bills. There is a huge increase in energy. The money available is not matching that level of increase.

The points the Deputy made are fair comments. Both the Minister and I are very much aware from our own involvement and engagement. We have travelled the country and met with the community and voluntary sector. As a former director of my own community association, I know they are very resilient in sourcing funding from a variety streams. In the budget announced last November, there is a 6% increase in funding from our Department, which is a demonstration of the ambition the Minister and I have in terms of supporting and developing community organisations in our rural towns, urban suburbs and communities across the country. This is a very genuine point. As part of the consultative process for Our Rural Future and in new the community and voluntary sector strategy, there has been a strong articulation of the points the Deputy has raised. Both the Minister and I will reflect on that as we look at the new Our Rural Future design and the community and voluntary sector strategy when we publish it later this year.

Can I be a bit a cheeky and hijack my own time for a moment to remind the Minister of State that he promised me he would visit Foróige in Balbriggan? I will follow up with him again after this. I understand the Minister of State is listening and hears what is being said. What I am trying to find out is how that is going to manifest itself in terms of money so that the community centres can be sure they are going to be in a position to be able to pay their energy bills. The fear many of them have is that they are not going to be in a position to fund because energy costs have risen. They are not coming down. Even if the pace of increase has slowed a small bit, they have not come down. For very many, they are unaffordable. When times were very hard people, particularly in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn and Storm Chandra, they went to their community centre as a beacon. We do not want the lights not being able to be turned on there.

I look forward to going to Balbriggan. The Deputy was to come back to me with the invitation to arrange it.

I thought I had done that but I will do it.

I would love to do that because it is very important to support that organisation. The Deputy raised that already. The reality is that we have seen - for example, in the community services programme - an increase of €4 million to €59.4 million this year. We have seen a 6% increase in the budget. We will reflect on the articulation by the community and voluntary sector in terms of the preparation of the strategy and in the consultative process for the new Our Rural Future. I assure the Deputy the Minister and I are very much rooted in this sector. We want to ensure the challenges that are being encountered will be considered in the development of any new policies. When we had Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, and energy was at its core, the Government was not found wanting. Again, our community and voluntary sector is very resilient in the sourcing of funds. We will look at what we can do to support what is a very important pillar of our society.