Ó An Roinn Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail
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Teanga: Níl leagan Gaeilge den mhír seo ar fáil.
Minister for Community Development, Integration and Charities, Joe O’Brien, has today (13 December 2023) announced an increase in funding for the vast majority of Community Services Programme (CSP) supported organisations.
The CSP aims to provide employment opportunities and local services to disadvantaged communities.
The revised funding rates to be applied from January 2024 will see:
No change is proposed for the small number of organisations in the low funding category, these are organisations identified as having the strongest earning potential and operating in less disadvantaged areas.
These increases will assist organisations to meet higher labour costs from 2024 onwards.
Minister Joe O'Brien made the announcement in Drumcondra, Co. Dublin while visiting the Conference Centre of the Child Vision organisation, one of the 14 organisations approved to join the programme:
“I am pleased to be able to provide additional funding of €4.3 million to provide an increase to both the medium and high Community Services Programme funding categories.
“Given the increase of €1.40 per hour to the minimum wage level from 1 January 2024 announced in Budget 2024, we want to ensure the continued sustainability of organisations currently supported under the Community Services Programme.
“This increase to the funding rates should help alleviate the financial challenges faced by those CSP supported organisations with limited earning potential, operating in areas of disadvantage and employing individuals from the prescribed programme target groups.”
Further to this, the Minister also announced the awarding of contracts to 14 new entrants to the Community Services Programme (CSP) following an open call for applications in March of this year.
The Minister went on to say:
“I am delighted to say that the additional funding of €1 million made available for this new open call for applications under the CSP during 2023, will allow for these additional 14 community based organisations to be supported under the programme.
“This funding will support 13 new manager positions and 23 new full time equivalent positions, with an initial contract of 2 years. I am particularly pleased that two of the supported organisations have a focus on employment of people from the traveller community."
The Minister concluded:
“Between the increase to the funding rates from 2024, and the on-boarding of these 14 new entrants under the CSP and this will see my department’s commitment to organisations supported under the Community Service Programme rise by more than €5 million, to over €54 million in 2024.
“I fully appreciate and have seen first-hand, the invaluable work carried out by CSP-supported organisations around the country and I am pleased to be able to provide further financial support to existing organisations while also increasing the number of organisations supported.”
The Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports 437 community-based services via 417 organisations, to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model.
CSP provides an annual co-funding contribution towards each full-time equivalent (FTE) position being supported, and, where warranted, towards the cost of employing a manager. As of October 2023, there are 336 Managers and 1,696 FTE’s currently being supported under the programme.
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 salary costs of managers and employees in supported organisations. The CSP contribution must be co-funded by the organisation concerned from other sources, for example, from income received from the public use of their facilities and services.
As part of a restructuring process completed in 2022, a new funding rate allocation model for the CSP programme was introduced in January 2023, as an alternative to the previous flat rate payment model. CSP organisations that are operating in areas of high disadvantage, employing individuals from the prescribed programme target groups and having limited earning potential benefitted from the higher funding rate category.
Given the impact the increase of €1.40 per hour to the minimum wage level will have on organisations supported under the CSP programme, the department’s contribution to the CSP Funding Rates are now being increased in 2024 by €2,717 in the contribution per full-time equivalent to organisations having a high funding need and €2,142 to organisations categorised as having a medium funding need. An increased contribution of €1,500 towards the manager’s salary in the high category in 2024 and €1,000 for organisations in the medium category.
No change is proposed for the small number of organisations in the low funding category, these are organisations identified with the strongest earning potential and operating in less disadvantaged areas.
The 2024 revised allocations are outlined in the table below.
| Overall rating | New rate per FTE | New rate per manager |
| High 8-10 (80% to 100%) | €25,750 | €37,500 |
| Medium 5-7 (50% to 79%) | €23,175 | €35,000 |
| Low 0-4 (0% to 49%) (no change) | €19,033 | €32,000 |
Funding of €1 million was made available for a new call for applications under the CSP in 2023, in order to provide new organisations with an opportunity to access support to employ additional staff in line with the programme’s re-defined sub-programmes and new vision. The purpose of this funding is to support social enterprises and community/voluntary organisations.
Pobal, who administer the programme on behalf of the department will advise all applicants on the outcome of their application. 14 community based organisations are now approved entry to the CSP, supporting 13 manager positions and 23 full time equivalent positions, valued at c. €1 million.
The list of organisations to enter into contract under CSP during December 2023 are outlined in the table below.
| Grantee name | County |
| County Roscommon Womens Network CLG | Roscommon |
| Moneygall Development Association CLG | Offaly |
| Wexford Local Development | Wexford |
| Comharchumann Forbartha Ionad Deirbhile Eachleim Teoranta | Mayo |
| Liquid Therapy CLG | Donegal |
| COPE Galway CLG | Galway |
| Western Traveller And Intercultural Development CLG | Galway |
| Doohamlet Community And Resource Centre CLG | Monaghan |
| ChildVision Company Limited By Guarantee | Dublin |
| Comharchumann Shailearna Teoranta | Galway |
| Cappoquin Community Development Company CLG | Waterford |
| MCR Community Centre CLG | Sligo |
| Aiseiri Cahir CLG | Tipperary |
| Valentia Island Development Company C.L.G. | Kerry |