Good morning Minister, Minister of State, Deputies and staff of the House. We will take questions to the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, and the Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Deputy Kyne. I remind Members that they have 30 seconds to introduce their questions. The Minister has two minutes to reply and then Members have an opportunity to ask two supplementary questions. I ask everyone to stick to the time limits laid out.
Priority Questions
RAPID Programme
Éamon Ó Cuív
Question:16. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development his plans for the roll-out of the RAPID programme in the coming years; the method by which he will ensure that RAPID funding is spent for the benefit of the persons living in RAPID areas; the method by which the programme will leverage actions and funding from other Departments towards the RAPID areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19154/18]
Contrary to a sometimes popular perception, the reality is that the most deprived communities in the State are in urban areas. Many of them are in this city, even though we are told it is a very successful one, but they are also in towns around the country. How is the Minister going to ensure that the RAPID programme helps the most disadvantaged communities and does not get spread out into more affluent areas?
In line with a commitment under the programme for Government, I launched a new RAPID programme in 2017. This was a brand new programme to replace the original RAPID scheme that was funded a number of years ago. Under the new programme, funding is provided for local authority areas instead of for specific RAPID areas as had been the case in the past. Local community development committees, LCDCs, operating under the aegis of the local authorities, allocate the funding to individual projects at a local level.
My Department is currently developing proposals for an enhanced programme to support disadvantaged communities and I hope to make an announcement in this regard in the coming weeks. My intention is that the programme will continue to focus on addressing areas of local disadvantage and that LCDCs will continue to administer the programme at local level. By using local structures and local knowledge, we can ensure that funding is given to those areas most in need.
I am concerned by the Minister's answer. By their nature, the LCDCs are going to focus right across the whole local authority area. Taking the Minister's county of Mayo as an example, there is a RAPID area in Ballina but the LCDC represents urban, rural, affluent and not so affluent areas. How is the Minister going to ensure that the focus is on the areas that got the designation? They tended to lose out. What structures are in place to ensure that the housing estates that were the cause of the designation have a big input into where the RAPID funds go?
In respect of the recent programme, I allocated €6 million in funding, of which €2 million went to the LCDCs. I divided that equally around the country this year. Some €3.5 million will be ring-fenced this year and last year there was €2.5 million ring-fenced for Dublin inner city, in particular. Some €500,000 of that funding was for legacy schemes that had been there in the past. The Deputy is quite correct. That is why I am asking the LCDCs. They are the people who are on the ground, have the local knowledge and should be able to identify where the difficulties are. The Deputy is correct that there is both urban and rural disadvantage. In particular, there are very serious problems in urban areas of disadvantage. That is why we ring-fenced the €3.5 million this year for Dublin inner city. That is why I gave Cherry Orchard €100,000 at the end of last year. It came and made a case to me in respect of difficulties that it had.
The Deputy is quite correct. We are looking at the scheme and I intend to have a new scheme up and running by the end of May. I want to identify the areas most in need of funding. I do not want it to be going to areas that do not have the same need. I want them to target the areas that need it most. That is why we are reviewing the scheme at present. The Deputy asked me about the funding and how every county gets the same funding. We need to look at ways and means of identifying the counties and areas most in need of funding.
The Minister is calling this RAPID, which was the name of a previous programme. Under the previous programme, there were geographically defined areas in which we know scientifically from statistics there is the greatest level of deprivation. Can the Minister tell me if the funding is ring-fenced for the benefit of those areas, or have the LCDCs the power to spend it anywhere they want in the county?
Previously, when we had the area implementation teams, AITs, which are now replaced by the LCDCs, there were regular meetings around a table with the Garda Síochána, the HSE, the education and training boards, ETBs, and SOLAS to focus on these areas of concentrated disadvantage. I am concerned that the Minister seems to be diluting the scheme away from those areas. What mechanism has he got in place to focus specifically on the RAPID areas, or has he done away with the concept of a RAPID area as a defined area in which we know statistically that we have massive concentrations of disadvantage?
In respect of the last programme, there was a value for money audit done in 2011. From that audit, we were told that we were not to continue the practice of the previous scheme. That was in the report. I took over this programme in the middle of last year when I took over the new Department. I was anxious to get the programme out before the end of the year.
This is why I made sure that funding was made available to me. The LCDCs and the local authorities gave out to me on the basis that it was too late in the year to get that funding out. The value for money audit programme told me it did not want the structure that was in place. There were 51 areas at the time with co-ordinators so it felt we were not getting best value for money. This is why I must introduce a new scheme, why I am looking at the scheme and why when I announce the scheme at the end of May I intend to address some of the issues mentioned by the Deputy. I gave a commitment to the Deputy in the committee that I would come back to the committee. This is one of the issues we can tease out then.
LEADER Programmes Funding
Martin Kenny
Question:17. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the reason only 0.3% of funding under the Leader programme to 31 December 2017 has been allocated, his views on whether allocation methods are failing and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19082/18]
We have just finished talking about RAPID. I will tell the Minister one thing. The Leader scheme is far from rapid because there is nothing rapid about the pace at which people around the country are getting the money. It started in 2014. It is now May 2018 and in my county of Leitrim, not one community project and not one person who applied for funding has got a red cent. The statistic showing that only 0.3% of funding has been allocated is a scandal. It is time to recognise that the way in which this has been put in place is not working.
Leader funding is delivered through local action groups, LAGs, in each of the 28 Leader sub-regional areas around the country. Leader has a budget of €250 million over the period to 2020 and €220 million of this total has been allocated to the LAGs for the delivery of their local development strategies. The amount of funding which is available for projects, as outlined in the strategies developed by the LAGs, is €164.5 million. The remainder of the €220 million covers the administration costs of the LAGs and their engagement with communities to generate projects.
An additional €30 million is available for Leader schemes which will be delivered at a national level. These are at an early stage of delivery. As of 31 December 2017, almost 600 projects were approved for funding of over €16.4 million. This accounted for 10% of the funding available for projects - €164.5 million - in the strategies developed by the LAGs. As the Deputy will appreciate, these projects need to be implemented before they can submit payment claims and draw down funding.
The pace of project approvals has increased substantially in recent months in line with the historic cycle of Leader delivery. To date, over 900 projects with a total value of almost €27 million have been approved for Leader funding by the LAGs representing over 16% of the project funding outlined in the LAG strategies. A further 320 projects with a value of €17.7 million are within the approvals process. On the basis of the continuing increase in the level of project approvals, together with administrative improvements to Leader which my Department introduced over the last year, I anticipate a significant increase in Leader project expenditure in 2018.
We know that. In fairness, I am not blaming the Minister but he is the person who is now responsible. The truth is that communities the length and breadth of the country are at their wits' end. I come across community projects that tell me that they will never again apply for Leader and go through this process because the way they are being treated is scandalous. I spoke this morning to somebody who works for one of the LAG projects. The person received notification from Pobal saying it had found a typo in a 27-page document and that it needed to be corrected before it could proceed. The person had to search to find a number that was put down backwards. Say the number was 1,710; it had been put down as 1,701 in the document. That number was in the document about ten times but in one spot, Pobal found it was backwards and, therefore, it told the project it had to go through all this again. Who in the name of God is paying this person to sit down and study a thing in that degree of depth that he or she will find a typo and use it as an excuse to hold up funding for a community project? That is what it is doing the length and breadth of the country and it is time to call it out. It is not working and has not worked. It was a disaster from before it started and it is time to say that Leader needs to go back to the way it was in the old programme.
A Leader forum was hosted by the previous Minister. We made 31 changes to the programme.
Was it not a bad sign when the Government had to do it?
Twenty-nine of these were implemented by the LAGs. What I have to do is ensure that this is working. I have met and talked to the national organisation. It now tells me that this programme is working better. I will give some examples. I will give the figures as of 30 April this year. The number of projects approved up to 2017 was 592 with a value of €16.412 million. Up to today, 929 projects to the value of €26.908 million have been approved. In the Deputy's own country where figures have improved since I gave him the figures at a meeting of the committee last week, the number of projects awaiting approval was 14 with a value of €831,000 so someone is drawing it down. A total of 15 schemes have been approved to the value of €224,000. The programme is now ramping up. There is no doubt about it. Let us be honest and fair. When these people make an application, if they are putting up a building or any kind of job they are doing, be it a public or community building, hall or sporting organisation, they must put the building in place. We will not pay them until the building is finished. We will not prepay them so they must wait for the money to be drawn down. The projects are being approved, the scheme is beginning to ramp up and I am confident the Leader programme is now beginning to work with the changes we made as a Government and Department.
I am not denying that and I know that. I know many of these projects that have been approved. Some of them have been approved in Leitrim. However, many of them have not been approved and have been set aside on the flimsiest of criteria. If the smallest mistake is made, out they go. This is the problem. During the last programme, the LDCs worked with people and if there was a bit of a problem, they sorted it out. Now there is no working with anybody. It is my way or the highway and that is the problem these community projects face the length and breadth of the country. I understand that the Minister is doing his best. I am not disputing that but the fact is that when it comes to Leader, the best is not enough. We are not getting the money out to the communities. People are not receiving this money and the people who are receiving it are afraid that when these inspectors come, they will find some problem with it and kick the whole lot out again because the process has been made far too complicated and costly. Too much money is going on red tape and not enough money is going to the people. In fairness, the Minister knows that as well. If he knows it, the time has come to call it out and say that the changes made in 2014 were a mistake and that we need to change it.
I will take a quick comment from Deputy Breathnach on the same issue.
I think, particularly with regard to-----
(Interruptions).
The Minister should not tell the Chair what he can or cannot do. I am telling Deputy Breathnach, and I have done so before, that he is entitled to make a very quick comment.
With regard to community funding, particularly community groups, where bona fide projects are sanctioned, some facility should be available through the banks and credit unions to allow money to be used. It is difficult for small community groups to find upfront money.
A total of 63% of this funding comes from Europe while 37% of it comes from the Irish Government. There are some rules and regulations with which we must comply with regard to European-----
They are over the top.
I simplified this scheme. Deputy Martin Kenny talked about paperwork. We changed the rules and made 31 changes. We got rid of 55% of the paperwork. I cannot do any more. I am happier now than I was last year. I was frustrated last year with some of the companies that did not make any effort to do something to get this funding out. I want this Leader funding spent and used on the ground and I want to see the projects up and running. I want to see jobs created from it and communities benefit from the Leader companies. I am happier than I was a year ago because I now see that the applications are coming in and are being approved and that the work is starting. I can see a problem down the line. At some stage, some Minister will have to find extra funding because in some year, a lot of this funding will have been drawn down from the Department. The Government and the Department know this but at least now, I see a big improvement. Deputy Martin Kenny's own county is not doing too badly but I see counties with five, four, three or two projects. I want to see projects approved and up and running and I want to see the money spent and in place. I have it in place. It creates a problem for me at the end of the year when this funding is not spent.
Departmental Functions
Éamon Ó Cuív
Question:18. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he is in discussions with other Departments regarding the transfer of further rural and community functions and schemes to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19155/18]
It is a tragedy that when the Minister's Department was established, it was given so few functions. Some 99% or 99.5% of the functions and spend in rural Ireland do not come within the Department's remit; therefore, despite the Minister's best efforts, his effect on the well-being of rural Ireland is, by definition, limited. Has he asked for more powers and functions? There are functions in other Departments which should rightly have been transferred to the Minister's Department.
The Taoiseach’s decision to establish the Department of Rural and Community Development in July 2017 was an important one for communities throughout the country. It underlines the Government’s commitment to ensuring the economic recovery can be felt by every community and that we will build greater resilience for the future. My Department has an important role to play in enabling economic development through the creation of jobs and the infrastructure required to support them and supporting communities to become sustainable and desirable places in which to live, work and raise families. To help bring this about, the Department is working with our colleagues across government to create the conditions to support increased economic opportunities and local employment in all areas of the country; to deliver schemes and programmes that support the revitalisation of towns and villages; to improve access to services and social networks that ensure a high quality of life; to enable communities disadvantaged by location or social issues to reach their full potential now and in the future; and to support all communities to be able to have a voice in shaping their own futures and addressing their common goals. The Department is doing this through the delivery of a variety of programmes, including flagship programmes such as the Leader and the social inclusion and community activation, SICAP, programmes, the revitalising areas by planning, investment and development, RAPID, programme, the town and village renewal scheme, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme, the CLÁR programme, the local improvement scheme, LIS, the Dormant Accounts Fund, the seniors alert scheme and the communities facilities scheme.
My Department is also playing its part in the roll-out of the national broadband plan, which aims to provide high-speed broadband access to all areas of the country.
With regard to the addition of further functions to my Department, it is vital that any Department representing rural Ireland and communities across the country have the mandate to make a difference for these communities. I am satisfied that my Department has a very strong mandate in that regard. To that end, we have seen the transfer of responsibility for the community services programme from the Department for Employment Affairs and Social Protection from the start of 2018. While there are other schemes within the remit of other Departments that could, in time, also be considered for transfer to my Department, my immediate focus is on delivering the significant programme of work ongoing in the Department. In budget 2018 my Department secured in excess of €220 million to fund the schemes I have outlined. The creation of the rural regeneration and development fund and its allocation of €1 billion as part of Project Ireland 2040 presents a huge opportunity for my Department to create further opportunities for growth and development in rural Ireland.
I look forward to working with my Cabinet colleagues and other stakeholders in making a difference to the rural economy and communities throughout the country.
Sadly, after a very long reply from the Minister, the answer to my simple question appears to be "No". The Minister has not sought further schemes. Previously, when we had a community and rural development policy, it included the rural social scheme, responsibilities for the Gaeltacht and the islands, Waterways Ireland and drugs policy which is tied up with the RAPID programme and social deprivation. Would the Minister like to have these responsibilities back? Would he consider bringing a memorandum to the Government asking that they be transferred to give his Department the clout it needs? He knows in his heart and soul that trying to make representations to other Ministers is not half as effective as having control. Will he consider asking for these functions by bringing a memorandum to the Government stating this is where they rightly should be, given the precedent that this is where they were in the past?
The Deputy is correct that some of the schemes he mentioned would probably fit in my Department. However, as he knows, we put this new Department together in the last year. I am happy with it and the results of the schemes I have established. I can give the Deputy some figures in that regard. When I am at the Cabinet table I watch the decisions being made and make sure everything is rural proofed. I make sure Ministers are accountable to rural Ireland and I am very pleased with the way my colleagues have responded. At the end of this week we will produce an update on the report on the action plan-----
Please do.
The Deputy should not worry - it is coming up. It is so positive we did not want to bring all of the good news out so fast. Some 93% of the actions have been delivered on. It will be out on Friday.
Employment has increased throughout the country. Of the 56,200 jobs created last year, 84% were outside Dublin. Two thirds of the jobs were created with the assistance of IDA Ireland, 50% of which were created outside Dublin. I am delighted with the projects. Some 281 were funded under the town and village renewal scheme; more than 900 Leader projects were funded, while over €20 million has been allocated for 370 projects under the rural regeneration infrastructure scheme. A total of 900 projects have been approved under the CLÁR programme. The local improvement scheme has been reintroduced with a budget of €17 million, while 1,100 road projects have been completed across the country. I provided some funding for the Atlantic economic corridor to ensure the local authorities would have a dedicated person in place to deal with rural Ireland issues.
The Minister is over time.
I am very pleased with my Department and particularly the €1 billion I have available for the rural regeneration scheme. We have a very strong, good, efficient and hard working Department.
They say that when one cannot answer a question, one should just keep talking. Does the Minister agree with me that issues such as rural transport, responsibility for the greenways which I believe would be far more appropriate to the Minister's Department in the context of rural recreation, marine leisure which, again, is just another form of rural recreation, the farm assist scheme, a sister scheme of the rural social scheme, the community employment and Tús schemes which are community schemes and policy on the Traveller community would be much better placed in his Department? Despite what he has said - obviously he must defend the citadel - it would show a real commitment to communities, both urban and rural, if these functions were transferred to the Minister. Would he like my assistance and that of the Opposition in getting these schemes transferred to his Department? Would he like us to start a vigorous campaign to ensure he will be given these enhanced powers? Does he want our help or not?
I never refuse the Deputy's help. Any time he can help me I always take it. I will be honest with him. Yes, some of the schemes he mentioned would fit in my Department. I have already looked for some of them and some of the Departments want to give some of them to me. However, there is one problem. I need to have two things if I am to take over the schemes - money and staff. If I do not get the money or staff I need, I do not want the schemes. We took a scheme from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. It gave us the scheme and the money, but we had to employ our own staff. We did that, which is fine but, in the future, the simple answer is that if any scheme is to be given to my Department, I do not want it if I do not get the funding and the staff I need. Of course, I will take it if I receive the funding and the staff I need. Some of the projects mentioned by the Deputy such as the greenways and so forth would fit perfectly in my Department. I have no difficulty with this, provided there is the funding and staff available.
The Taoiseach will fix it for the Minister.
CLÁR Programme
Thomas Pringle
Question:19. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the reason for the anomalies regarding CLÁR funding in 2017 which saw only three successful projects under measures 1 to 3 in County Donegal; the reason funding under measure 4 is within the discretion of his Department and not directly under the local authority; if a scoring matrix will be used in the processing of applications for 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19156/18]
This question is about CLÁR funding for County Donegal. There were anomalies in the 2017 figures for CLÁR funding for the county. Can the Minister explain them? For example, County Donegal received 0.6% of the funding under measure one, even though it encompasses 6.4% of the district electoral divisions, DEDs. Overall, the funding the county received was 45% below the pro rata average. Will the Minister explain why County Donegal was granted significantly lower amounts of CLÁR funding vis-à-vis other counties in 2017?
The 2017 CLÁR programme provided funding under four measures. Measure 1 provided support for safety measures around schools and community facilities, measure 2 supported play areas, measure 3 concerned targeted community infrastructure needs and measure 4 provided first response supports. My Department received more than 500 applications across the four measures.
All applications received were assessed by my officials to determine whether they were eligible under the scheme criteria and whether all necessary supporting documentation, as required in the guidelines, was provided. Unfortunately, a significant number of project applications that my Department received from Donegal County Council under measures 1 to 3 failed to meet the minimum standards for eligibility, or in the supporting documentation required.
The CLÁR programme has historically contained some measures where groups, and in some cases individuals, applied directly to the Department for funding, depending on the measure concerned. In 2017, applications for funding under measure 4 were submitted directly to my Department by groups involved as first responders in emergency situations.
I launched the 2018 CLÁR programme on 15 March with an indicative allocation of €5 million. The closing date for applications was 30 April.
My officials will look at all applications to ensure they are eligible under the scheme's criteria and that all the supporting documentation requested has been provided. If, after these checks, the value of qualifying applications is greater than the funding available, my officials will have regard to any prioritisation given to the projects by the county councils or other organisations which submit applications.
It is true that the documentation was not submitted by Donegal County Council. However, Donegal County Council had all the documentation to hand in the council offices. The Minister's staff never asked for it. On a number of occasions the Minister's staff were in discussion with Donegal County Council and his officials did not ask for the documentation to be forwarded to them. It was all there. I submit that the reason they did not ask for it was that they did not want it. They did not want to see significant amounts of funding going to a county like Donegal. I think other factors affect funding in that county. It is very interesting to look at the counties that received the maximum amount of funding. There are correlations there, but they have nothing to do with the location of CLÁR areas.
I want to know what the Minister is going to do. Funding under measure 4 is at his discretion. That is fair enough. It is not under the discretion of the local authority. Will he confirm that a matrix of funding will be used in processing the 2018 applications in order to remove political factors from funding applications so that they are actually judged on their merits rather than on the basis of political expediency?
I reject what the Deputy says. I will just give him two pointers. I will outline what Deputy Pringle's council, Donegal County Council, did only last week. Every council agreed to the rules and regulations of the local improvement scheme, LIS, except Donegal. Every county was given an allocation of LIS funding, and each county was told to prioritise the roads. Deputy Pringle's county submitted €17 million worth of projects for me to prioritise. I will not do that. That is not my job. If the councillors and officials do not prioritise those schemes, I will not do it for them.
I ran the CLÁR programme fairly and on a per capita basis, like every scheme that I have ever run, including the sports capital schemes. Deputy Pringle should not blame me or my officials because his county did not apply for the schemes properly. My officials have no more time to go back to inefficient county councils that could not put in the paperwork the way we did last year. I reject the Deputy's submission. I will put a few figures on the record of this Dáil, if the Chair does not mind. I do not like that kind of allegation from people like Deputy Pringle.
The Minister will have another minute.
In the Leader programme, Deputy Pringle's county got €1.475 million. Under the town and village renewal scheme it got €1.159 million. Under the CLÁR programme it received €245,488. Under the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme it got €104,000. Under the local improvements scheme - listen to this, loud and clear - it got €3.384 million, the most money given to any county in the country. If the county council had spent that money, they might not have needed me to prioritise the scheme for them. In total, Donegal got €9,000,038 from my Department last year. I can tell Deputy Pringle this: Donegal has a very good representative in the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, because he made strong representations. He is a good Minister of State and a good Deputy, and that is why Donegal got €9 million.
That is a very interesting outline of all the funding our county got, except for the CLÁR funding. That is what this question was about. It was about CLÁR funding, over which the Minister has discretion. If one looks at the figures across the country, one sees where the funding went. It did not go to Donegal, I contest, because Donegal's votes were guaranteed. That is the reality of the situation. Donegal is in need of CLÁR funding. It has 6.4% of the district electoral divisions, DEDs, in CLÁR. The funding it received was 45% below the pro rata average for the country. We can go through the counties and see where the funding went. Will the Minister make sure that this will not happen in 2018, and that the funding will go to the counties that deserve it?
The Minister has already used all his time, so I will insist that he is very brief.
I will send Deputy Pringle these figures, because I think he would understand how this scheme runs. Donegal got one of the highest allocations in the CLÁR programme last year. What is wrong with Deputy Pringle? Does he want me to give it all to Donegal? Donegal got €878,000 and 92% has been spent. Deputy Pringle should tell the county council to spend the other 8%. Donegal got almost €9 million from this Department last year. That includes funding under other Government schemes.
I am talking about CLÁR funding.