NGOs are amazing value for money

Sir, – In the aftermath of the referendums and the analyses, which are very important, I want to disagree strongly with an assertion that NGOs have more power over the Government than their own members; implicit in the assertion is that it was pressure from the NGO sector that pushed the Government into having the referendums now.

This could not be further from the truth. The sector has for many years pressured Government, which is their job, to address the inequalities in our society, as reflected in our Constitution, that do not represent our society as it grows and develops. However, they wanted more time, and made this known, so that the wording as proposed by the citizens’ assembly and subsequently by the Oireachtas all-party committee could be properly discussed and reflected upon so that a more appropriate and meaningful wording could be achieved before putting it to the people.

By announcing the referendums for March 8th, International Women’s Day, NGOs were caught between a rock and a hard place; their decision was to support a Yes and Yes as a step in the right direction but by no means enough, as they knew it would be a very long time before another opportunity would arise to address these inequalities.

As someone who led organisations in the NGO sector for many years, I would urge anyone who tries to undermine the work of our NGO sector by calling for the reduction in their funding to think again. Government supports NGOs because they know they give amazing value for money as they deliver services to those in our society who are not being served by Government institutions and agencies. They have to fundraise continually to supplement the Government grants, which are never enough and are only provided on an annual basis which hampers the ability of NGOs to plan properly and keeps them in a precarious position regarding work and job retention. NGOs give an amazing service to the people of Ireland and they deserve our thanks and our support. – Yours, etc,