Thread by @joefingalgreen

I’m looking forward to addressing today’s conference & virtually meeting some of the fantastic volunteers & volunteer managers working across Ireland.

This past year has really thrown a light on the importance of volunteers & associated supports for volunteer efforts.

https://twitter.com/voluntireland/status/1384769020038205440

Conferences like today’s @voluntireland one help us recognise and remember so much of what is positive about volunteering. They give us an opportunity to reflect and to acknowledge the enormous contribution of volunteering to Irish society.

Volunteering does not happen in a vacuum and without volunteer managers providing much needed guidance, support and structure, the volunteering experience in our communities would be very different.

My Dept, @DeptRCD has played a central role in the nation’s response to COVID - through the Community Call, through participation on the national oversight committee and providing funding and support for many elements of the community response.

The findings of the National Economic & Social Council report: “Community Call: Learning for the Future”, recognises that relationships between the volunteering infrastructure & the local authority sector have been strengthened as a result of the crisis & agility of response

This amazing response at local level would not have been possible without @DeptRCD additional investment in volunteering infrastructure during the crisis to help the sector respond as quickly and effectively as it did.

I also know that the Volunteer Managers here today at the @voluntireland conference have shown great flexibility and adaptability to, not only the needs of your organisations, but also the needs of people in your community, which is to be commended.

We launched National Volunteering Strategy last December. The new Strategy will be implemented over next 5 years, in p/ship with stakeholders supported by @DeptRCD -an acknowledgement by Gov of how important volunteering is & to steer delivery of an agreed and ambitious vision.

Through the implementation of this strategy, we will have greater awareness of volunteering through increased visibility and recognition, stronger structures for volunteers & organisations, & we will develop greater diversity in volunteering opportunities & volunteers themselves

In 2020, over 26,000 volunteers registered through I-Vol app & these volunteers were directly linked by the network of Volunteer Centres to organisations responding to COVID-19.

These volunteering figures do not include the volunteers who were already making a difference in our communities, who show up and do so much work on the ground, helping out their family, friends and neighbours, often working tireless on behalf of their communities

As Ireland starts to recover, there will be changing needs and priorities within individual communities, and I know that volunteers will contribute to a large part of that recovery. It is equally important that we concentrate on both our economic and social recovery.

I can assure you of the Government’s continuing support for @voluntireland work in developing volunteering for the benefit of our society. In particular, I would like to re-iterate my own personal confidence in the ability, creativity and energy that exists in the sector.