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Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, has today (17 November 2022), announced almost €1.5 million in funding for 34 Social Enterprise projects nationwide.
Under the Scaling Up Fund, Social Enterprises will be supported in carrying out a number of capital projects, including the purchase of vehicles, as well as refurbishment and improvement works at their premises.
Among those being supported under this initiative are the Meals on Wheels, Community and Family facilities, Enterprise Centres and facilities that cater for young people and people with disabilities.
The Fund will also support a number of Social Enterprises in carrying out feasibility studies surrounding future projects.
Examples of the successful Social Enterprises include:
Announcing the funding today, Minister Humphreys said:
“I am delighted to announce an investment of almost 1.5 million euro to support 34 Social Enterprises the length and breadth of the country. The Scaling-Up Fund will support these Social Enterprises to grow and develop their services, carry out capital works, purchase vehicles and other infrastructure projects. In Limerick for example, the funding we are providing will develop a café that will provide employment opportunities for people in Autism. In Wexford, the funding will support the installation of an 8 person disabled access lift. In Dublin, the investment will purchase an electric vehicle for a mental health service. This investment will be transformative.”
Minister Humphreys announced the successful projects during her keynote speech at the Fourth Annual Social Enterprise Conference in Dublin.
In her speech, Minister Humphreys praised the role that Social Enterprises play in their community, particularly amid recent challenges such as the Pandemic and Ukrainian crisis.
The Minister added:
“Social Enterprises are so often on the front line for communities throughout the country, providing goods and services, supporting our vulnerable citizens, and creating jobs. I want to thank all Social Enterprises for your tremendous work in serving in serving your communities, addressing disadvantage and creating meaningful job opportunities over the past couple of years, in challenging circumstances.”
The Minister continued:
“The Social Enterprise sector is growing, and is playing an increasingly important role in supporting our transition to social and circular economy. But we have a duty to maintain that positive momentum. We need to be ambitious about the future of this sector, which continues to experience growth and has significant potential to create jobs, and to continue to make a positive impact on society, the economy and the environment.”
The Conference brought together a wide range of national and international speakers representing the full spectrum of social enterprise activity in Ireland. Minister Heather Humphreys delivered the keynote address and reflected on the progress in implementing a new National Social Enterprise Policy.
Other key speakers at the conference included:
A list of recommended Social Enterprises under the Scaling-Up Fund for Social Enterprises are available in Appendix A and Appendix B.
Social enterprises are businesses whose core objective is to achieve a social, societal, or environmental impact. Like other businesses, social enterprises pursue their objectives by trading in goods and services on an ongoing basis. However, surpluses generated by social enterprises are re-invested into achieving the core social objectives.
They frequently work to support disadvantaged groups such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, Travellers, and so on, or to address issues such as food poverty, social housing, or environmental matters.
Ireland’s first National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland 2019-2022 was launched by the Department of Rural and Community Development on 18 July 2019, with the objective of creating an enabling environment for social enterprise to grow and contribute more fully to Ireland’s social and economic progress.
The Policy is focused on three main objectives:
1. Building Awareness of Social Enterprise
2. Growing and Strengthening Social Enterprise
3. Achieving Better Policy Alignment
The holding of an annual Social Enterprise Conference is one of the commitments made in the National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland 2019-2022 to allow stakeholders to share best practice, inform policy implementation and future social enterprise policy development.
The theme of the conference is “A New Beginning”.
The Dormant Accounts Acts 2001-2012, together with the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, provide a framework for the administration of unclaimed accounts in credit institutions (that is, banks, building societies and An Post) and unclaimed life assurance policies in insurance undertakings.
The main purpose of the legislation is to reunite account or policy holders with their funds in credit institutions or insurance undertakings and in this regard, these bodies are required to take steps to identify and contact the owners of dormant accounts and unclaimed life assurance policies.
However, in order to utilise the un-used funds in dormant accounts and unclaimed policies to best effect, the legislation also introduced a scheme for the disbursement of funds that are unlikely to be reclaimed from dormant accounts and unclaimed policies for the purposes of measures to assist:
1. the personal and social development of persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged
2. the educational development of persons who are educationally disadvantaged
3. persons with a disability
Social Enterprises work in many ways to assist people in these categories.