Castleknock Community Centre Association Company Limited by Guarantee

Lobbying Organisation Castleknock Community Centre Association Company Limited by Guarantee

Date published 19 Jan, 2024

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Employment

Period 1 Sep, 2023 to 31 Dec, 2023

Specific Details Meeting with An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 20th October 2023 at Castleknock Community Centre Laurel Lodge to discuss the struggle of community centres to retain quality staff due to an inadequate level of funding awarded to Social Enterprises (SE) through Pobal CSP. The meeting was to highlight the need for an increase in Pobal CSP funding to help alleviate the financial pressure put on SE. SE are mainly a low base generated income business who rely on Pobal Funding to continue their service.

Intended results An increase in the budget awarded to Pobal which will be passed on to Social Enterprises

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Catherine Coady

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Event / Reception (1)

The Community Centre prepared a detailed Wages report which showed the inadequacies around pay scales for people working in Social Enterprise settings. This report was given to the Taoiseach for his review

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Leo Varadkar Taoiseach (Department of the Taoiseach)