Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2015
561. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the funding available for work currently being carried out by Longford Women's Link under the LCDP or under SICAP in respect of which contact has been made with his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2576/15]
View answerMy Department’s Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) superseded the Local Development Social Inclusion and the Community Development Programmes in 2010. 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 €281 million over that period. It is being implemented on a transitional basis until March 2015, pending the roll out of the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in April 2015.
In accordance with the Public Spending Code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of the services to clients, SICAP is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently underway. The closing date for receipt of tenders was noon on 19 December 2014 and the tenders received are currently being evaluated and tenderers will be informed of the outcome by mid February.
It should be noted that the procurement process for SICAP was open to Local Development Companies, other not-for-profit community groups, commercial firms and national organisations that can provide the services to be tendered for to deliver the new Programme. In Stage one, joint applications were encouraged and organisations of varying sizes (for example smaller organisations working in consortia with larger organisations) were invited to submit joint applications. Contracts for SICAP will be determined pending the outcome of that process.
All groups who received LCDP funding in 2014 are being funded through LCDP interim arrangements until 31 March next, pending the outcome of the SICAP competitive process. The funding level agreed for the group referred to by the Deputy is a matter for the Longford Local Development Company, being the local development company which currently provides LCDP funding to Longford Women’s Link under an annual contract.
