Consolidating Ireland’s Indigenous Social Enterprise Sector – A Policy Perspective

The National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland (2019 – 2022) was a watershed moment for social enterprise in Ireland. Ireland has a rich, proud and diverse experience of social economy and social enterprise, yet the policy framework developed comparatively later than in some other EU member states. Since its launch in 2019, the Policy has helped to significantly shape the social enterprise sector in Ireland including through targeted measures and improved coherence across government policy. At the same time, the sector is still in a nascent phase and faces dramatic new challenges associated with the realities of focussing on social impact whilst trading in a competitive market economy traditionally focussed on export-potential, which have been exacerbated by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As this foundational Policy comes to the end of its term, the Government, in partnership with the sector, now faces another significant juncture which will determine how successful social enterprise can be in moving from the margins to the mainstream and contributing to Ireland’s economic, social and environmental progress. The current article seeks to clarify the features of Ireland’s indigenous social enterprise sector, and offers perspectives on some of the prerequisites for an ambitious and impactful successor policy in 2023 to unlock the potential of the sector to grow in scale and impact.