Source: Government of Ireland
The Scheme will be administered on behalf of the department by Pobal.
Speaking about the announcement, Anna Shakespeare, CEO of Pobal said:
Applicants must first, through an open call, satisfy that they are eligible to avail of the scheme, before being invited to submit a full application.
Details of the scheme, and how to apply, can be found on Pobal’s website: www.pobal.ie
Social Enterprises:
Social enterprises are businesses that work primarily to improve the lives of people. Their core objective is to achieve a social, societal, or environmental impact. Like other businesses, social enterprises pursue their objectives by trading in goods and services on an ongoing basis.
However, surpluses generated by social enterprises are re-invested into achieving their core social objectives, rather than maximising profit for their owners. They frequently work to support disadvantaged groups such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, the Traveller community, etc., or to address issues such as food poverty, social housing, or environmental matters.
National Social Enterprise Policy
Trading for Impact National Social Enterprise Policy 2024 – 2027 was launched by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht in July 2024. The policy is designed to help cultivate and sustain strong, impactful social enterprises in Ireland, that enrich the social, environmental and economic well-being of people living in our communities.
The Policy is focused on five main objectives:
- Building Awareness of Social Enterprise
- Growing and Sustaining Social Enterprise
- Achieving Better Policy Alignment
- National and International Engagement
- Impact Measurement
Dormant Accounts Fund
The Dormant Accounts Acts 2001-2012, together with the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, provide a framework for the administration of unclaimed accounts in credit institutions (i.e. banks, building societies and An Post) and unclaimed life assurance policies in insurance undertakings.
The main purpose of the legislation is to reunite account or policy holders with their funds in credit institutions or insurance undertakings and in this regard, these bodies are required to take steps to identify and contact the owners of dormant accounts and unclaimed life assurance policies.
However, in order to utilise the un-used funds in dormant accounts and unclaimed policies to best effect, the legislation also introduced a scheme for the disbursement of funds that are unlikely to be reclaimed from dormant accounts and unclaimed policies for the purposes of measures to assist:
- the personal and social development of persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged;
- the educational development of persons who are educationally disadvantaged; or
- persons with a disability.
Social Enterprises work in many ways to assist people in these categories.