Press release
Minister Joe O’Brien continues his visits to community initiatives in County Kerry
From Department of Rural and Community Development
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Rural and Community Development
Published on
Last updated on
Joe O’Brien, Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Social Protection, today (Tuesday, 19 July 2022) continued his 2-day official visit to a number of community initiatives in County Kerry.
The second day of the Minister’s visit, hosted by North West East Kerry Partnership, commenced at Kerry Volunteer Centre in Tralee – a centre supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The next stop in the Minister’s itinerary was a visit to Kerry County Council where he met with the Community Response Forum who are co-ordinating the community-led response in the provision of assistance and support to the people arriving from Ukraine.
Minister O’Brien also met with staff and Community Employment Scheme participants of TEAM Drug Rehabilitation Project, a scheme supporting people in recovery from addiction. He also visited St Vincent de Paul in Tralee.
The Minister also hosted a large event in the Rose Hotel, Tralee, with a view to connecting people from the Travelling Community with those organising and running Community Employment Schemes.
The final visit to Castleisland was to Revamp Kingdom Furniture Recycling CSO, funded by the Community Services Programme (CSP), where he met with the Manager and staff involved in the project.
Speaking about his visit to Kerry, Minister O’Brien concluded:
“The past 2 days has been a wonderful opportunity to visit some of the many projects across the county that are supported by the Departments of Rural and Community Development and Social Protection, as well as broader government departments. It has also been an opportunity for me to engage with public representatives, community groups and volunteers to hear first-hand about the challenges and issues that are arising. This immense work that is ongoing across the county cannot be underestimated and I was pleased to be able to recently confirm an additional €131,000 funding through the Social Inclusion & Community Activation Programme (SICAP) for North West East Kerry Partnership and we will continue to engage to ensure projects are supported to continue their vital work.”
SICAP assists both individuals and groups through a 2-pronged approach; supporting communities and supporting individuals. SICAP target groups include; children and families living in disadvantaged areas, lone parents, new communities (including refugees/asylum seekers), people living in disadvantaged communities, people with disabilities, Roma, the unemployed (including those not on the Live Register), travellers, and young unemployed people living in disadvantaged areas.
Tús scheme is an employment support measures for long-term unemployed people and other people in receipt of long-term payments from the Department of Social Protection.
The scheme employ participants to deliver a range of services to local communities throughout the country. These include local amenities management, environmental projects, arts and culture, sports, childcare, TidyTowns, health-related services, meals on wheels and drug rehabilitation schemes.
RSS is an income support initiative providing part-time employment opportunities in community and voluntary organisations for farmers or fishermen in receipt of certain social welfare payments and underemployed in their primary occupation.
The Community Services Programme, or CSP, supports over 430 community-based organisations to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model, including the provision of places, spaces and facilities.
CSP funding is provided to these community organisations as a fixed contribution towards the cost of employing an agreed number of full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) and a manager, where warranted.
The CSP contribution is not aligned to the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts, rather it is a fixed annual contribution towards the overall cost of the employees.
The department currently provides an annual co-funding contribution of €19,033 for each FTE position and €32,000 for each manager position.
The programme currently supports 432 CSP services via 428 organisations. As of June 2022 there are 341 Managers and 1,738 FTE’s currently being supported under the programme.
In Co Kerry alone, the CSP supports 17 organisations with 10 managers and over 70 Full time employees. These 17 distinct services include Sport Facilities, Day Care Services, School lunch/Meals on wheels services, Respite Services, Community and Family Resource Centres and facilities, Food recycling and Home maintenance services.