I appreciate the chance to raise an issue that deserves far more national attention. It is the future of volunteering in Ireland and the need for a national volunteering strategy that delivers for communities and for the country. I applaud my local volunteer centre in Louth. It does incredible work. Our volunteer centre recorded 40,000 volunteering hours last year, an equivalent of €1.2 million in economic value. The team in Louth, like many across the country, is outperforming the investment the State provides. It is navigating staff absences for sickness, or whatever, rising operational pressures and a funding model that does not match the output. Some centres receive significantly higher allocations than others with the same or even fewer numbers of volunteers. This kind of disparity undermines the very idea of a national strategy. Let us be honest, in that the last national volunteering strategy did leave a lot of gaps. We still do not have unified data tracking despite 29 centres independently collecting their own figures. We still do not have common key performance indicators, KPIs, making national comparisons impossible. We still have not invested in the kinds of modern system that would allow us to capture, measure and communicate the true value of volunteering. When proposals were made, like reviewing the national database or creating shared staffing supports, these did not progress. We need clarity because volunteer centres cannot plan on the basis of guesswork. There have been positives. The Louth Volunteer Centre received €70,000 from the community recognition fund to purchase a minibus, which is something genuinely transformative for outreach and mobility. These are exactly the types of focused, practical support that work. Isolated wins, though, cannot replace structural reform. There is talk about innovation and volunteering is changing. People want flexible roles, skills-based roles, short-term opportunities and digital volunteering options. Centres are eager to pilot these ideas, but without a dedicated volunteering innovation fund, good ideas remain stuck in the "maybe someday" drawer. This is not how we future-proof a sector. Volunteering is not just a hobby for Ireland; it is a core pillar of community life. This applies to our festivals, sports clubs, Tidy Towns groups and local response organisations. Volunteering keeps people connected, develops skills and strengthens local cohesion at a time when this is badly needed. I am asking the Minister of State to set out how the new national volunteering strategy will deliver fair and transparent resources across all volunteer centres, if it will introduce a standardised national reporting framework with common KPIs, if it will include a dedicated innovation fund to support modernisation, and how the Department intends to ensure staffing stability, including temporary cover, when absences arise. The people running these centres are doing phenomenal work with limited tools. I know the Minister of State has engaged heavily with them. They are delivering far more than their funding suggests. What they need from us now is ambition. This ambition needs to be backed by those resources, clarity and the new strategy that will be implemented. Ireland's volunteer sector is one of our greatest national assets. It is something we should be really very proud of and we should really treat it like it is a national asset.

Sentiment score: 0.26

I thank the Minister of State. I am glad to hear of the ongoing work and I appreciate he cannot pre-empt the second national strategy. I reiterate that we want to be ambitious about what volunteerism is and can be and to future-proof it. It is not just about standing in a gap, standing collecting money or standing ushering crowds. There are many different skills that we need now, including digital skills for community groups, sports clubs, etc. An incredible amount of intellectual capacity in our communities. If we provide the framework for people to be able to deliver those to community groups, sports clubs, etc., I think we can be hugely successful. I reiterate the need for an innovation fund, for the KPIs and to ensure staffing stability, including temporary cover when absences arise. When people are out sick, that brings down the volunteering hours, and these things happen in organisations. I thank the Minister of State for his engagement because this is hugely important. I say this constantly: if the volunteers in Ireland stopped working, the nation would be at a standstill. From Covid to flag days to looking after Ukrainian and other refugees across the country, it is volunteerism that brings us together and raises us up. It is a core pillar of our community life and brings people together. Every single cent is well spent. As I said, 40,000 volunteering hours were contributed in County Louth last year and this was the equivalent of €1.3 million of an investment. I am sure that not even a percentage of that amount was delivered by the Government to volunteering in Louth.

Sentiment score: 0.25