Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
I am delighted to be here today to join this key international Change Nation event and I wish to thank Paul O’Hara of Ashoka Ireland for his kind invitation.
I congratulate Paul and his team for their hard work in bringing this exciting and important event to Ireland. I particularly want to welcome our overseas visitors to Ireland.
My hope is that the combination of leading Irish and international social innovators can help drive new solutions to the many challenges facing Ireland at this time.
I firmly believe that Government doesn’t have all the answers. Society needs driven people to effect positive change. People from all walks of life.
Change brings progress
This event is taking place in what is a challenging time for our economy, changed utterly from our Celtic Tiger years.
This Government is committed to reaping the harvest of ingenuity and industry now by doing all that we can to avoid losing sections of our population to long-term unemployment and inactivity.
We will play to our strengths in this regard, by honing our creative skills, developing our well proven entrepreneurial talents and doing what we do best in this country, all of Irish society pulling together to find practical solutions to the very real problems we face.
Today in Dublin Castle, I think we have some of the best thinkers and problem-solvers in the field of social enterprise.
Many of you have strong backgrounds in the world of business and commerce but you are directing your knowledge and energies into social and environmental areas.
You are people who recognise the real contribution that social enterprise can make to society and to economic development.
You are the essential bridge builders between business and society that can make positive change happen.
Action Plan for Jobs
Last month, the Government launched its Action Plan for Jobs, which has an ambitious target of supporting the creation of an extra 100,000 jobs in the economy by 2016, and having 2 million people at work by 2020.
We recognise that achieving this target will require the input, not just of the Government, but also of the enterprise sector and the wider community.
In a practical way, the Action Plan commits to ensuring that we unleash the full potential of social entrepreneurship and social innovation to addressing our economic and social renewal.
In this context, I have asked Forfas, the State's advisory body on enterprise, science and technology, to examine the social enterprise sector and identify how my Government can create the right environment to help social entrepreneurial talent to flourish.
We will also take into account the recommendations of the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising in its recent report to Government.
Recommendations include measures to improve the infrastructure for giving, developing fundraising capacity among organisations and increasing investment in the sector to generate employment in local communities, build social capital and support the movement for national reform and renewal.
Social enterprise in Ireland
Social enterprise is not a new concept in Ireland.
It has existed through the good work of people in every town and city in Ireland.
As I travel around the country, I am constantly struck by the contribution that local people make to enhancing the life of their communities.
We have a rich tradition in Ireland of people working together for the greater good from the early development of cooperatives by the pioneering work of Sir Horace Plunkett in the 1890s.
The phrase we use in the Irish language is “Meithil” – a community working together for a common aim.
We have built up a sense of community through unique organisations such as the GAA, the Irish Countrywomen’s Association, Muintir na Tíre, agricultural co-ops, local development organisations, and a wide range of voluntary and charitable groups, and local community-owned initiatives.
Organisations such as Clann Credo, the Ulster Community Investment Trust and others have been very active in supporting social enterprise here in Ireland.
In the last few years, social enterprise has been given a new boost, through the establishment of organisations like Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, the introduction of Social Entrepreneur awards, and the creation of the SocialEnterprise.ie website as a space where people and organisations can network and share information.
While there is a clear distinction between the objectives of social entrepreneurs and more traditional commercial entrepreneurs, I know that many commercial organisations provide a huge amount of support – financial and otherwise – to social enterprise and innovation.
This link between the world of commerce and the objectives of social enterprise has always been strong and I want to acknowledge the contribution of the many companies around the country, large and small, who support social enterprise in their own way.
I know also that there has been tremendous support from the business sector for the Change Nation event.
Global Irish Economic Forum
Last October, here in Dublin, the Government hosted the second Global Irish Economic Forum.
It was an event that brought together some of the best and brightest minds from Ireland and from amongst our Diaspora, to look for innovative ways to support Ireland’s economic renewal, create jobs and restore our reputation in the international arena.
Arising out of that Forum, a total of 65 major proposals emerged which we have been examining one by one, with a view to progressing as many of these ideas as we can, as quickly as we can.
It was a project that demonstrated how good ideas for improvement can emerge from bringing together people who are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and committed to making things happen.
I have no doubt that a similar flow of good ideas will emerge from the Change Nation forum.
I would like to invite the organisers to submit a summary of the best ideas arising from your deliberations to me - ideas that might make a big difference to job creation and inclusiveness.
Very often the best ideas are not costly to implement, but they may benefit from the input of a Government Department or agency.
I would be happy to have any such ideas considered by my Government if it means we can deliver tangible results.
Concluding comments
In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge the work of Paul O’Hara, Ashoka Ireland in putting this important event together.
It was clearly a very big undertaking to bring so many leading-edge thinkers in social innovation to Ireland. But I guess that the fact that you have achieved this is testimony to your spirit of not taking “No” for an answer.
I hope that you all have a fruitful discussion today, in exchanging ideas and in finding solutions to obstacles.
Above all, I hope to see real and tangible ideas emerging that will help to make Ireland a better place to live and encourage our young people to be the changemakers of the future.
Go raibh mile maith agat - Thank You.