Request for comments on Irish submission under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
The EU Commission is making a historically large fund available to help member states recover from the impacts of Covid-19. Social enterprise has been specifically identified as an area where economic growth and renewal can take place. Each country is to develop its own ‘ask’ and the EU is encouraging social enterprise to contribute to the national plan. So that, therefore, is our enormous opportunity – if money were no object, what would we ask for to make our social enterprise ecosystem in Ireland capable of growth and being sustainable.
The guidelines which the Commission will be using to prioritise on allocating funds are as follows:
Support employment through developing skills.
Address the risk of digital divide, including in the education sector.
Increase the provision of social and affordable housing.
Green investments and reforms
Digital investments and reforms
Access to technology for social enterprise and digital upskilling
Local and territorial partnerships for innovation, incubation, technology, circularity.
We need to think BIG!
€312 billion in grants between 27 countries – social enterprise is one of 14 specified ecosystems. What investment could we look for that would make a huge difference to social enterprise in Ireland both now and in the future? Plans need to be finalised and submitted by April 2021 and funds will be disbursed this year. Funds are for large scale projects and must be complete by 2026 and sustainable thereafter. SERI intends to contribute to the DRCD social enterprise element of the Irish application and we need to hear from you with your input and ideas.
We would welcome your input through this Google Form by Friday 19th February.
Details of EU Recovery and Resilience fund can be found HERE.
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