Minister Jerry Buttimer launches the Community Services Programme 2024 Annual Report
-
From: Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht
- Published on: 26 November 2025
- Last updated on: 26 November 2025
Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (DRCDG), with special responsibility for Community Development and Charities, Jerry Buttimer TD, has today (Wednesday, 26 November 2025) announced the launch of the Community Services Programme 2024 Annual Report. This report highlights the significant achievements and progress made under the Programme during 2024, highlighting its impact on communities across the country.
The report includes a number of case studies on CSP supported organisations, showcasing their contributions to their communities. Through these diverse examples, the report captures the positive effect that CSP funding creates; supporting people, strengthening communities and building local resilience.
The Community Services Programme (CSP) aims to support local community organisations to deliver vital services by creating employment opportunities for specific disadvantaged individuals and to provide a diverse range of local services to disadvantaged communities and target groups, through a social enterprise model.
The Programme focuses on communities where public and private sector services are lacking, either through geographical or social isolation or because of demand deficits. The CSP Programme provides an annual co-funding contribution towards each manager and/or full-time equivalent (FTE) position being supported.
The strategic objectives of the CSP Programme are:
- To address community needs through supporting services and community assets, ensuring they are inclusive and responsive to the disadvantaged or marginalised;
- To provide employment opportunities and improve the employability of individuals most distant from the labour market; and
- To strengthen and support community organisations operating as social enterprises to deliver improved facilities and services.
In 2024, the CSP Programme supported 451 services through 431 organisations through 1,727 FTE positions and 352 manager positions.
Across these organisations;
- 3,302 individuals were employed in CSP roles.
- 64% of CSP-supported employees were in part-time employment compared to 36% in full-time.
Key highlights from the report include:
- Increased Employment opportunities: A CSP funding call for new applicants to the Programme was announced in 2023. Following on from this call, 14 new organisations were welcomed on to the Programme, commencing in January 2024 with 13 managers and 23 FTE positions being supported.
- Funding for Additional Resources: Following an application process in September 2023, 32 existing CSP-supported organisations were allocated additional staff resources from June 2024. The 42 new CSP-supported positions consisted of 35 FTE and seven manager positions.
- Increased Funding Rates: To ensure the continued sustainability of CSP-supported organisations, the rates of funding awarded to CSP FTE and manager positions, across both the high and medium funding categories, were increased from January 2024.
Future of CSP Programme
An allocation of €55.4m was made available in Budget 2025 to support the CSP Programme for 2025, an increase of €3m from 2024. A further increase of €4m has been announced for 2026, bringing the total programme allocation to €59.4m for 2026.
Under the 2025 Programme for Government, a commitment was made to open the Community Services Programme for new applications annually. The scope to hold an open call for the CSP Programme is currently being reviewed, in the context of the 2026 Budget announcement, having regard to the funding needs of existing organisations and those who wish to join the programme.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Buttimer said:
“This report reflects the impact the Community Services Programme has on communities the length and breadth of the country. It highlights the real and lasting difference the CSP Programme makes by providing services and employment locally, which in turn contributes to building sustainable, inclusive and empowered communities.”
Anna Shakespeare, Pobal CEO, commented:
“The Community Services Programme enables the continuation and growth of important and valuable services provided by community organisations and social enterprises nationwide. CSP supported services are diverse in the range of activities they provide, the sectors in which they operate, and the communities or groups they support. The success of the programme and recent redesigns to ensure it is responsive and reflective of social and economic factors, particularly area level deprivation is evident in the 2024 Annual Report. Pobal is proud to administer the Community Services Programme on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community and Development and to work alongside the 431 funded organisations, who support the most vulnerable in our local communities by providing essential services, community spaces, employment and training opportunities.”
The Minister concluded:
“Despite the many social and economic challenges experienced in 2024 as highlighted in the Annual Report, CSP-supported organisations have continued to play an essential role in strengthening the communities they serve, providing vital services and safe welcoming spaces to ensure people and communities around the country receive the supports they need.”
Notes
Community Services Programme
The Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports 446 community-based services via 427 organisations, to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model.
The CSP Programme, which is not aligned to the minimum wage, provides a funding contribution towards the cost of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions and, where warranted, manager positions. The funding provided is not intended to meet the full salary cost of supported posts. Qualifying organisations must be social enterprises capable of generating income from their activities in order to meet the full salary costs of the supported posts, for example, from income received from the public use of facilities and services.
As of September 2025, there are 352 Managers and 1,724 FTEs currently being supported under the Programme. The current Community Services Programme commenced in January 2023 and will cease in December 2027. Pobal manages and administers the Programme on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht.
Revised allocations
As part of a restructuring process completed in 2022, a new funding rate allocation model for the CSP Programme was introduced in January 2023, as an alternative to the previous flat rate payment model. CSP organisations operating in areas of higher disadvantage, employing at least 70% of individuals from the prescribed programme target groups and having limited earning potential, benefitted from the higher funding rate category.
Although the CSP Programme is not aligned to the minimum wage, following the announcement of an increase of €1.40 per hour to the minimum wage rate from 01st of January 2024, consideration was given to the impact on organisations supported under the CSP Programme. Subsequently, the Department’s contribution to the CSP funding rates increased in 2024 by €2,717 in the contribution per FTE to organisations having a high funding need and €2,142 per FTE to organisations categorised as having a medium funding need. An increased contribution of €1,500 towards the manager’s salary in the high category in 2024 and €1,000 for organisations in the medium category was also provided.
No change was made to the small number of organisations in the low funding category, these are organisations identified with the strongest earning potential and operating in less disadvantaged areas.
The 2024 revised allocations were:
|
Overall Rating |
New rate per FTE |
New rate per manager |
|
High 8-10 (80% to 100%) |
€25,750 |
€37,500 |
|
Medium 5-7 (50% to 79%) |
€23,175 |
€35,000 |
|
Low 0-4 (0% to 49%) (no change) |
€19,033 |
€32,000 |
2023 Open Call for applications
Funding of €1m was made available for a call for applications under the CSP Programme in 2023, in order to provide new organisations with an opportunity to access support, from January 2024, to employ additional staff, in line with the Programme’s re-defined sub-programmes and new vision. Fourteen new community-based organisations were subsequently approved entry to the CSP Programme, with 13 manager positions and 23 FTE positions being funded.
Additional Funding Call:
2023 Call for Additional Funding Applications
In September 2023, an additional funding call was opened to existing CSP services, valued at €1 million. The purpose of the funding was to support existing CSP services with additional funded posts to enable expansion and growth within these hugely important social enterprises and community organisations. The call was open from 1st to 29th September 2023. A huge volume of applications were received and as a result not all organisations who applied were successful. In June 2024 an additional seven manager and 35 FTE posts funded under the Community Services Programme (CSP) were announced, benefitting a total of 32 organisations around Ireland.
Case Studies from 2024 CSP Annual Report:
1. Forum Connemara – Wild Goat Café
Forum Connemara is a Local Development Company based in Clifden, Co. Galway operating two CSP services – Diamond Hill Sports Complex employing one CSP supported manager and 2.5 FTEs and the Wild Goat Café, which employs one manager and 3.5 FTEs, both located in Letterfrack. The café provides an in-house and meals-on-wheels service for older people which covers an area of approximately a sixty-mile radius and provides about one hundred and fifty meals per week to locals.
2. Delta Centre-Delta Sensory Gardens
The Delta Centre, located in Strawhill, County Carlow, provides training, residential, day respite and multi-sensory services to adults with learning disabilities. The Delta Centre Sensory Gardens is set on 2.5 acres with a café on-site. CSP funding supports one manager and 6 FTEs, two of whom work in the café and four in the gardens. In 2024, the gardens won The Special Characteristic Prize in the Entente Florale Europe Competition and features in RTE’s Bord Bia Home Grown Series.
3. Roscommon Women’s Network – Cycleup
Roscommon Women’s Network (RWN) is a local community project and charity dedicated to supporting women and families throughout Co. Roscommon. The CSP-funded service they operate is called Cycleup Textiles, which trains individuals and groups in the repair and reuse of materials, and produces upcycled items for sale as part of the circular economy. A manager and four CSP-supported staff are employed (in two FTE positions) providing mentoring and skills and peer learning. In 2024, the service won the Sustainable Rural Social Impact Award as part of the RDS Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Awards.