Cost-of-Living Pressures and Rising Poverty Push Charities to Breaking Point, The Wheel Warns

The Wheel, Ireland’s national association of charities, has told a Department of Social Protection pre-Budget forum that cost-of-living pressures and rising poverty are driving increased demand, pushing already overstretched and underfunded services towards breaking point.

Speaking ahead of the meeting on 1 July, Dónall Geoghegan, Director of Policy and Advocacy at The Wheel said, "With one in twelve charities specifically dedicated to the relief of poverty or economic hardship, and countless others in homelessness, health and housing, child and family services, and community development under immense pressure, any cut to vital social infrastructure will have severe repercussions, at a time when an increasing number of families are likely to fall into poverty."

Despite the key role of the sector working at the forefront of providing support and services to the most vulnerable, consistent funding issues are impeding the capacity of the sector to respond to an ever-increasing demand and longer waiting lists.

"Many charities report that the funding gap between what it costs them to provide services and the funding they receive is widening. A survey of more than 200 charities carried out by The Wheel earlier this year found that one in four respondents were unsure whether they would have sufficient funding to maintain their existing support and services next year. Most organisations cannot plan for the medium- to long-term. They operate on a year-to-year basis, with multiannual funding the exception rather than the rule," said Dónall Geoghegan.

To address this situation, The Wheel calls for:

• Increased allocations across all Government departments to deliver sustainable, equitable funding for community and voluntary organisations providing essential public services on behalf of the State.
• Multiannual funding arrangements rolled out across all government departments to ensure organisations can plan effectively, retain staff, sustain quality services, and achieve important objectives and outcomes.
• A 5% increase for the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to €674m to effectively deliver its imminent five-year strategy to support the Community and voluntary sector. 
• Application of the terms from the forthcoming public sector pay deal to employees in our sector delivering essential services, to ensure adequate staffing numbers can be recruited and retained.
  

Highlighting the scale of the sector's contribution to Irish society, Dónall Geoghegan said that Ireland has almost 35,000 community and voluntary organisations, employing more than 280,000 people in charities alone and supported by 1.12 million volunteers whose economic contribution is estimated at between €1.2 billion and €2.6 billion annually.

Read our Pre-Budget Submission