Bertie Ahern's plans to establish a task force on active citizenship is part of a wider political drive to restore a sense of community, writes Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent
When Brendan Dowling tells people he volunteers to work with children and adults in community activities in the south inner-city, he mostly gets a puzzled reaction.
"They're surprised," says Dowling, who earns a living selling leather belts on Dublin's Grafton Street. "There's an attitude of, 'more the fool you' for doing all of this for nothing.
"Everyone's so pressurised. Parents feel they need two wages for an acceptable standard of living, so they've little time for doing things with their own kids.
"And if you work with kids a lot of people say, 'why bother', when the finger of suspicion can be directed at you."
Dowling, who has been volunteering in the area over the past 20 years, chairs the Whitefriar/Aungier Area Community Council and trains local children in aikido.
The group, based in a renovated corporation flat, organises classes in law, philosophy and art for adults, as well as a range of activities for children such as nursery rhyme groups and sports.
The community council is attempting to reverse a trend towards isolation and disconnection in the area which has seen community ties begin to unravel. However, the experience of Dublin's south-inner city is by no means unique.
Voluntary groups say many people are too busy to volunteer any more. Sports clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to find coaches and parents. Community groups find it hard to get numbers to even reach a quorum.
"It's sad," says Dowling. "There is a huge circle of energy and gratitude that happens when people are involving in giving. When that stops, the effects go far beyond activities stopping for kids. The community gets weaker and more selfish."
The Government has picked up this growing sense of unease. While quick to lap up plaudits about the country's rapid economic growth, it realises it must at least be seen to address the gnawing feeling that our quality of life is in decline.
In the coming days Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is due to announce the membership of a new task force on active citizenship which is being established to examine ways of encouraging more people to get involved in the community. Individuals from a variety of backgrounds, including the academic, community and voluntary sector, are expected to form part of the task force.
The group's conclusions may help to shape public policy in a way which facilitates and encourages greater engagement by people in all aspects of life, as well as promoting a strong civic culture.
The Government also launched an initiative last week to involve citizens in emergency crisis relief and long-term assistance projects in the developing world through the establishment of two volunteer groups for humanitarian aid and development.
There is more than a whiff of political opportunism about the stampede of governing political parties towards embracing the notion of "social capital" - the concept that circles of friends and civic engagement have an inherent value - as a general election looms on the horizon.
The Taoiseach invited Harvard professor Robert Putnam, who coined that phrase, to address the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on the issue recently, while the Progressive Democrats held a conference on the theme of the community.
The personal involvement of Mr Ahern in establishing the task force, which should ordinarily be under the aegis of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is a sign of the priority with which the area is now being treated.
Yet for all this blurry pace of activity, the need for a task force is debatable. There has been a wealth of reports and research into the area in recent years. Most have offered progressive solutions, but there has been little sign of implementation.
They include the Government's White Paper on Voluntary Activity in 2000, a report following on from this, Tipping the Balance, in 2002, and an impressive piece of policy research by the National Economic and Social Council, The Policy Implications of Social Capital, a year later.
The latter included 24 recommendations, including the designation of a Government department to co-ordinate strategic thinking and policy design in relation to social capital. Yet these conclusions met with a deadening silence from Government.
In addition, Government policies such as the trend towards individualisation, growing inequalities in the health sector, underfunding of public transport and a sense of disempowerment at community level may have added to a decline in civic engagement.
One theme which resurfaces again and again in seeking to address the decline in volunteerism is the empowerment of communities.
The NESC report says there is a natural flow from informal, unstructured networks of friends and neighbours to more formal participation in groups and society. It says the local level is the natural one in which to consider initiatives which strengthen community ties and a sense of mutual support.
The Dublin City Development Board is already seeking to put what up to now has been a largely abstract concept into practice on the ground. Peter Finnegan, director of the board, which is linked to Dublin City Council, says one aspect of its work is the development of a "city of neighbourhoods" through creating a network of localised city council offices in the heart of communities across the city.
Plans for civic forums which would allow local people and elected representatives or officials to exchange views are also under consideration.
"The aim is to create or retain the administrative and commercial heart of these neighbourhoods. We'd like to see that enhanced with a political heart through these civic fora," Finnegan says.
It is also examining plans to involve businesses in communities through the concept of "employer-supported volunteering" in which firms would combine financial support with time and skills of staff members, making it easier for them to contribute to the community.
Groups such as The Wheel, a national network connecting community and voluntary organisations, say more resourcing of communities is also a key issue.
Issues such as insurance, administration, and child-protection training are all barriers towards establishing activities or getting people involved in the community.
The groups's chief executive, Deirdre Garvey, says many of these can be overcome by community or voluntary groups thinking more strategically about recruiting volunteers. She points to the success of the Special Olympics as an example. What was one of the biggest displays of volunteerism in living memory was only facilitated by years of careful planning and organisation.
However, community groups point out that baffling layers of bureaucracy involved in local area development make access to grant aid and support for community facilities or activities an exhausting and time-consuming effort.
Before siren voices warning of a collapse of community and civic values grow even louder, it is worth recognising that there are still relatively high levels of volunteerism in the State.
The GAA is a vibrant organisation, while other forms of involvement such as the Tidy Towns competition and the fund-raising responses to disasters such as the tsunami are encouraging.
Research by Tom Healy, who is also a senior statistician at the Department of Education, suggests that Ireland appears to be rich in some forms of social capital, although he cautions that it varies considerably by age, marital status and levels of education.
While the debate over how to restore a sense of community gets under way, there is deep division within the community and voluntary sector over whether the Government's big idea is the best direction in which to head. The Community Platform, a grouping of 24 national organisations concerned with social inclusion, poverty and equality issues, has written to the Taoiseach's department expressing concern that a task force on citizenship may do little to empower marginalised sections of the community.
"We believe that citizenship needs to be considered in a wider context of social inclusion, access to decision-making and recognition of a range of rights and entitlements as participants of society," its letter says.
"What it means to be a citizen throws up many notions that are traditionally founded on a view of society that is unquestioning of power imbalances, patriarchal monoculture, middle class, etc."
For people like Brendan Dowling the steps towards rekindling community spirit and strengthening neighbourhood bonds will be one step at a time.
"I can't just grab six kids and take them off for the afternoon. For example, there was a murder in the community and it created a lot of anxiety for the kids. We want to take them off for the day, but that spontaneous decision meant getting permission slips, insurance, agreeing a time to go and come back. It's a huge amount of work. But if you've a good system you can do that."
Ultimately, he says, people want to get involved - as long as it is on their terms and they are not overwhelmed with a drain on their time.
"I think people are absolutely prepared to get involved once it's within their available time. The feedback and what you get from volunteering is always go great.
"It's one step at a time. If you get someone to volunteer an hour, the second will come. You don't ask for it, but it comes. And when it does, it's worth twice as much."