I thank the Deputy for her question. Community wealth building is, indeed, a long-standing commitment of the Deputy and her party. As she knows well, the concept refers to a range of approaches to local economic development. While the Department under the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and me does not have a dedicated community wealth building fund as such, our wide range of policies and funding programmes provide support for local economic development and community-led local development in line with many of the principles of community wealth building. The creation of an environment in which social enterprises can thrive is a key element of community wealth building. Our Department leads on the implementation of the Government's social enterprise policy and a new policy, Trading for Impact, was launched last year. In addition, the community services programme currently supports 427 community-based organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model. The national rural development policy, Our Rural Future, has, over its lifespan, provided significant investment and supports, strengthened local economies and improved the lives of many people in rural communities across Ireland. The LEADER programme, which supports economic development and job creation in rural areas, is a prime example of community-led local development. In addition, the rural regeneration and development fund and the building acquisition measure of the town and village renewal scheme invest in the regeneration of rural towns and villages, including measures for the acquisition of buildings for community use, which aligns with the concept of community wealth building. As the Deputy knows, Deputy Conor D. McGuinness, the Minister and I have visited many areas in conjunction with the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. This initiative supports integrated approaches across communities throughout the country, enhances and leads community development, addresses disadvantage at local level and supports community-led initiatives in urban and rural areas. I thank the Deputy for the question and would be happy to explore the matter further with her.

Sentiment score: 0.48

I thank the Deputy. If we look at the example and model we have here in SICAP, which is our country’s primary social inclusion intervention, it supports communities. I am well aware of Cleveland and Preston. I am not aware of the Ayrshire model and would be happy to discuss that further. I have looked at Cleveland’s model in particular. To give the House an example, €48.9 million in funding was invested in SICAP this year. I remind Members of the House that the place-based leadership programme under SICAP leads to improved building capacity. To be helpful, and I make this point in a non-confrontational manner, the issue of work co-operatives does not come under our Department but a different remit. Both the Minister and I, along with our Department and under the programme for Government, are committed to improving many aspects of the lives of people through community involvement and community-led initiatives. Last week, I was in Clare, while the Minister was in different parts of the country. I met Deputy McGuinness in Waterford with different people. These are wonderful people lifting each other up and raising the standard of living and the standard of public buildings. I opened a number of buildings last week in Cork, including the eHub, which is different. It is about working locally and nationally to ensure disused buildings are used.

Sentiment score: 0.28

As the Deputy knows, the Department is progressing a number of initiatives and policies that provide both urban and rural regeneration through an integrated strategic way of delivering supports, programme schemes and co-ordinating measures to address social disadvantage and imbalance in our communities or, in some cases, a lack of opportunity. I gave the example of the national policy on social enterprise, the strategy to support the community and voluntary sector in Ireland. We are working to develop new policies, synergies and partnerships, such as through Our Rural Future, and there is significant investment. Some people are still not where they should be and I fully accept that, but we are working to identify and respond in a variety of ways. Our Department is very much committed to a people-first approach in any funding we spend to deliver for people at a local level.

Sentiment score: 0.26

I thank the Deputy for his continuing support for our national library programme. When we served together in the Seanad, he was a strong advocate for library services. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I, as Minister of State with responsibility for libraries, are investing in our library services. They are a key priority for both of us and for the Department and that is reflected in the public library strategy. It is an ambitious, forward-looking strategy and one of its key commitments is the delivery of a libraries capital programme. To that end, it is important for Members to bear in mind that the provision of library services is a matter for local authorities primarily. Within that capacity, under the Local Government Act, we are funding a capital programme this year over a four-year window from 2023 to 2027 that amounts to €22.6 million. Eleven state-of-the-art library projects across the country are being commenced and a further €2.6 million is being invested in 12 next generation mobile library services, including in two new libraries in the Deputy's county of Kildare, in Clane and Newbridge. In addition to this, investment of over €28 million was approved in May of this year under the rural regeneration and development fund for three projects including the provision of new library facilities. Our Department also provides funding annually of over €740,000 as a contribution to support local authorities in leasing buildings for the provision of public library services. In addition, €1.3 million was approved by our Department in November 2023 for the provision of new ICT equipment in public libraries. Over the past four years, a sum of €40 million has been allocated by the libraries unit in our Department for public libraries across three funding streams, namely, capital projects, current expenditure and the Dormant Accounts Fund. The €2.25 million allocated from the Dormant Accounts Fund has provided, for example, sensory equipment and equipment to support physically impaired library users for libraries in every county. I will provide the Deputy with information detailing the expenditure county by county in tabular form. In the county of Kildare, which Deputy Wall represents so well, a sum of €5.5 million has been allocated during that four-year window.

Sentiment score: 0.27

I look forward to visiting the library with Deputy Wall. Just to assure him, the project has received funding of €3 million under the capital programme to support what is a very ambitious and exciting plan for the county library in Newbridge, including archives and a cultural centre. The project will be superb in terms of its size and scale. It will be 2,378 sq. m. It will be four times larger than the existing library in Newbridge and will provide an opportunity to showcase the library service in the county. As the Deputy knows, it has received stage 2 approval in the Department's four-stage capital management process. I look forward to working with Kildare County Council, the Deputy and other Members of the House in ensuring the libraries capital programme delivers for the people of Kildare. To be fair to Kildare County Council, it has been very progressive and ambitious around the library service and I commend it on the work it is doing. I look forward to working with all Members and Deputy Wall, in particular, on the project for Kildare.

Sentiment score: 0.39

Since 2020, our Department has allocated Kildare County Council €11.1 million for the public library service, be it the library service to Clane or the mobile library service. It is a testament to the vision of Kildare County Council in terms of its recognition of the importance of our library service. This is maybe tongue in cheek, but perhaps the Tailteann Cup can be showcased in the new library as well. I wish Kildare every success over the weekend. It is important we in the Department work with the county council to ensure our libraries capital programme is delivered. I have travelled to a number of libraries across the country. I visited Ennis last weekend and it is fantastic to see what is happening in our libraries and in particular in the My Open Library service as well. As Minister of State with responsibility for libraries, I look forward to working with all Members of the House to ensure the library service's capital programme, the book fund, the mobile library service and ICT is enhanced during the term of our office in the Department.

Sentiment score: 0.42

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter and he is right that it is a recurring theme when we speak to people who are very committed to the work they do. The Government's five-year strategy to support the community and voluntary sector, Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, was published six years ago. It is a whole-of-government strategy, led by our Department and it has been implemented collaboratively over the last five years in partnership with the sector. Last week, I announced the commencement of a public consultation process to prepare for the development of a successor strategy, which I expect will reaffirm the Government’s commitment to supporting the community development sector. I am very much aware of the important role community workers play in the delivery of programmes that are funded through our Department, many of which are based in very disadvantaged areas and provide vital services to communities. I thank the staff and workers for the work they do. They make the lives of all of us better and enhance our local communities every day and week they go out and do their work. In line with the current strategy, our Department has supported initiatives to strengthen the profession of community development worker. In 2022, funding was provided to establish a two-year bursary fund to support people employed in community organisations to pursue professional community work qualifications. In addition, further funding was approved for the establishment of a one-year pre-professional bursary. Both funds are administered by the all-Ireland endorsement body. The funding will have the effect of expanding the professionally qualified workforce in the community workspace, strengthening the capacity of the workers and their respective organisations to respond to the complex challenges the communities they work in are experiencing. I look forward to continuing to engage, as does the Minister, Deputy Calleary, with the community development sector in the consultation process for the new strategy and to hearing their views on this important issue.

Sentiment score: 0.46

I am committed to continuing to provide supports to the community and voluntary sector. I am not absolving us from any role here but our Department does not set terms and conditions of pay. We are very much of the view that it is about supporting the community and voluntary sector. My priority is to create an environment where the sector can thrive, that is enabling and empowering, and that is building capacity and strengthening the sector. I am very much aware of the needs and concerns expressed and the reality some people find themselves in regarding the retention and recruitment of staff. It is about ensuring we can build resilience, skill-development and capacity among the community and voluntary groups. It is about having a comprehensive training needs assessment specific to the needs of our small community and voluntary organisations, in particular. It is also about ensuring we can put in place multi-annual funding through SICAP, CSP, SSNO and LEADER to help us to create an atmosphere and an opportunity to retain high quality staff. We have high quality staff in the sector and we must acknowledge that and do all we can to ensure that knowledge base is not lost. I would be happy to hear any suggestions the Deputy has and I would be happy to work with him on them.

Sentiment score: 0.41

To be fair, we are aware of and are very cognisant of the challenges in the sector. I reiterate that it would be inappropriate for our Department to be involved in the setting of pay and conditions, while recognising the importance of the sector and the brilliant work being done. What we are committed to doing and what we will do is to look into an estimated time to boost the budget for the Department but also recognising that the conditions of employment, the whole issue of training and upskilling is part of what we do in looking to improve the outcomes for people in terms of staff and qualifications. As I said earlier, our Department has been heavily investing in professional bursaries and professional upskilling of the workforce through strengthening capacity of the workers and the different organisations. It is about ensuring the Department takes note of what the Deputy is saying and recognises the importance of the staff and the workers. I will further engage with the sector again on the matter, as he knows.

Sentiment score: 0.54