Sinn Féin has called for funding seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to be ringfenced for community-based drug projects and voluntary bodies.
The party today published its policy on the community and voluntary sector in advance of the election on February 25th.
Speaking at Fatima Mansions in Dublin’s south inner city, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the community and voluntary sector provided services and advocates for Ireland’s most vulnerable communities.
The sector, with some 7,500 groups, was worth an estimated €6.5 billion to the economy. This was more than three times the level of State investment in it.
“It provides vital services that the State does not, and it does so in a cost-effective manner,” he said.
He said demand on the sector was rising in line with the recession. This was a great threat to services that were “already pared to the bone”.
Mr Ó Snodaigh said the community and voluntary sector have been a target for disproportionate cuts. "Even as total public spending rose in 2009, this sector was cut. It continued to be disproportionately cut in 2010 and 2011.”
He said his party estimated about 5,000 jobs could be created through support for social enterprise and the expansion of the community employment (CE) schemes.
The party also proposed a shift towards “multi-annual” funding, to allow groups know their budgets and to plan ahead for up to five years. It called for the ringfencing of funding from dormant accounts and funds seized by Cab, and for the establishment of the All-Ireland Consultative Civic Forum promised in the Belfast Agreement.