Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 September 2014
13. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the criteria that will be used in allocating funding under the social inclusion community activation programme that is due to replace the local community development programme in January 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34332/14]
View answerMy Department’s Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. The current Programme officially ended at the end of 2013, having operated for four years with funding of €281m over that period. It is being implemented on a transitional basis for 2014 with a budget of €47m, pending the roll out of the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in early 2015.
The new Programme will be managed and overseen by the Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) which have been established in all local authority areas as part of the reform of local government. These Committees, comprising public-private socio-economic interests, will play a key role in developing, co-ordinating and implementing a more coherent and integrated approach to local and community development.
In accordance with the Public Spending Code, legal advice, good practice internationally, and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of services to clients, the new Programme is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently under way. Stage 1 of the process (Expressions of Interest) has been completed and Stage 2 (Invitation to Tender) will get under way shortly. All proposals received will be assessed by the LCDCs in accordance with the assessment criteria which will be notified with the tender documentation.
SICAP is a key priority of Government and its budget for next year will be decided in the 2015 Estimates process. It will be the responsibility of each LCDC, with the technical support of my Department and Pobal, to allocate the appropriate level of funding to successful tenderers to deliver SICAP. The allocations will be based on the population and deprivation levels of each LCDC area and any of its sub-divisions, informed by the Resource Allocation Model (RAM). The model used is based on the Pobal-Hasse Deprivation index, based on the Census data. The application of this approach means that the funding is allocated equitably in that a disadvantaged person in any area of the country will have equality of resources available to their areas to support their needs.
