Social Enterprise will be vital in Irish Recovery –Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship
23 December 2009

Students receive Social Enterprise Development course Certificates of Completion from Anne Horan, CEO of the Ryan Academy (seated centre). This is the first module of the Ryan Academys Programme for Life Long Learning.

DCU Ryan Academy presents first certificates of completion to students of the Social Enterprise Development course in DCU Ballymun.

The Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship, the DCU facility based in Citywest, graduated its first class from its L3 or Life Long Learning programme of modules. The event took place in the DCU in the Community outreach centre in Ballymun.

Speaking at the event, the CEO of the Ryan Academy, Ms Ann Horan pointed out that the social enterprise sector, which includes voluntary, community and other forms of social enterprise, will be vital to Ireland’s recovery.

“Social enterprises are an integral part of the Irish society and economy. Not only does the sector enter areas where market failure has occurred but it also creates thousands of jobs while helping social cohesion. ,” said Ann Horan. “With funding to the sector being cut it is imperative that social enterprises continue to evolve and create new forms of revenue generation, thinking which this module was designed to promote.”

The Ryan Academy called on the government to formulate a strategy for the development of the social economy in Ireland, pointing out that the UK and Wales had their own Social Enterprise strategies for a number of years due to the importance of the sector.