The Wheel calls for new agreement between Government and community and voluntary sector

The Wheel has called for a new, coordinated partnership between Government and community and voluntary organisations to ensure that vital services are delivered to the growing number of people in need. Speaking at The Wheel’s annual conference at Croke Park on 19 May, the organisation’s chief executive, Deirdre Garvey said such an agreement would guide the interaction between community and voluntary organisations, state departments and agencies when negotiating the creation and delivery of services in key areas such as health, housing and education.

Ms Garvey said there is general agreement in the sector that the delivery of improved services, as envisaged in the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, is being hampered by an inability of existing systems to adapt to the new demands. “As the economy contracts and unemployment rises, many organisations are experiencing a surge in the demand for their services. It is therefore vital that we act swiftly to establish a coordinated approach to overcome the existing inefficiencies in the system,” said Garvey.

The Wheel proposes the new partnership should take the form of an agreement, or comhaontú, setting out the principles that would guide the partnership between the community and voluntary sector and the State, and a framework that would develop, drive implementation and monitor the agreement.

She added that the proposed partnership framework should also include a new funding system that ensures that community and voluntary organisations recover from the State the full cost of the services they provide – while being provided with multi-annual funding (so they can plan ahead). For further information and updates on this issue, contact The Wheel’s Director of Advocacy, Ivan Cooper: ivan@wheel.ie