The vast majority of citizens want to participate in the community, but feel they are faced with obstacles such as lack of time and expertise in areas of voluntary activity, the chair of the new Taskforce on Active Citizenship said yesterday.
Mary Davis, who is also chief executive of Special Olympics Ireland, said the newly-formed group will travel around the country in the coming weeks seeking ways to overcome such barriers to people getting involved.
"I firmly believe there is a latent desire in every individual to help. For the work I've been doing with the Special Olympics over the last 30 years, no one has ever refused to help when they were asked.
"People do want to help and get involved. It gets clouded a bit and you can understand why due to the busy lives we live. It's not high up on our radar. What the taskforce can do is raise awareness in relation to the needs of the community.
"Yes, we have economic success, but there are still problems out there. If you go into any small community, there are a host of issues. We need to look at them, see what can be done and then try to address them.
"It's not all to be left to the State, or volunteers or the people who participate. The corporate community has a role too. If we can get corporate community, the State and voluntary and community sector working together, we can go a long way to addressing a lot of the problems out there."
Yesterday's meeting in Croke Park was the first in a series of six regional meetings to be held over the next month.
The taskforce will draw up a series of recommendations which will be sent to Government in the coming months. Ms Davis said she hoped the findings will help shape future public policy in the area.
Community and voluntary activists at Croke Park yesterday cited a number of obstacles to people getting involved in the community, such as insurance costs, child protection measures and training for new volunteers.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who spoke at the first public meeting of the taskforce yesterday, said many people believed society had become more materialistic and more selfish.
He said a healthy democracy depended on the extent to which citizens were engaged in the issues that affected them.
Ms Davis said that while materialism was more evident, there were still significant levels of voluntary activity across the State.
"In south Dublin there are between 1,200 and 1,500 voluntary organisations alone. I presented community awards in Kerry two years ago and there were 580 organisations involved. That is a huge amount. No matter where you go, there are people offering to help others," she said.
Ms Davis said the taskforce will gather together its regional findings, draw on international experience and examine practical barriers to people participating in the community in its final report.
For further information, contact www.activecitizen.ie
Dates for remaining regional public consultation meetings: 7-9pm on September 19th in Monaghan at the Four Seasons Hotel; 7-9pm on September 20th in Sligo at the Sligo Park Hotel; 7-9pm on September 26th in Galway at the Radisson SAS Hotel; 7-9pm on September 28th in Cork at the Kingsley Hotel; 7-9pm on October 2nd in Tullamore at the Tullamore Court Hotel.