Ms Dorothy Clarke:

I shall add to what my two colleagues have said. Most of the questions and observations made today were on the role of the councillor and his or her democratic mandate. A number of questions were asked about SICAP. There were quite a lot of questions on the rural development programme and Leader, and on how they have evolved and are being rolled out. My colleagues and I were also asked to comment on monitoring and evaluation. There were individual queries about RAPID areas and deprived areas.

The role of the county councillor is key in terms of the role we perform at a local level, particularly in our engagement with local communities. County councillors have paved the way for us whether that was the LECP, local development strategy or whatever programme or plan we consult on. We see the role of councillors as key and we will do anything in our power to enhance their role. My two colleagues have commented on the democratic mandate. It is there and it is a fact.

Deputy Ó Broin has said that he remains unconvinced that SICAP has added value to the work of the local authority and community sectors, in particular to the work of the LECPs and the LCDCs. We launched these plans in the past couple of months. Most of the plans were completed between February and August and then they were launched by the Minister at the National Ploughing Championship last September. It is early days for the programmes and next year will be the implementation phase. We had an extensive engagement process because the consultation process between communities and State agencies took the best part of two years to complete.

There is no point in having a plan to just leave it on a shelf and, therefore, it must be implemented. We are liaising with the Department on the best way to monitor the implementation of the plan because it will be subject to oversight by National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC. We are also required to give feedback to the Department on how the scheme is being implemented and, particularly on the strategic objectives, and how we implement the national policies at a local level whether it is the national Action Plan for Jobs, healthy cities or whatever else.

All the national and Government policies are reflected in local economic and community plans, LECPs, at local level so it is critical we get feedback, and the correct guidance documentation on how we can give feedback, in order that there is uniformity among all local authority areas.

The Local Government Reform Act set the foundation for the establishment of the local community and development committees, LCDCs, and the preparation and implementation of the LECPs. SICAP is one of the roles of the LCDCs and the initial SICAP programme launched for a nine-month period in 2015. We started working on it in March when none of the LECPs had been completed, so it would have been difficult to deliver SICAP in this context. Allowances were made for that in the 2016 programme but we will be able to go back and ensure the new programme reflects the objectives and actions of the LECPs.

Another question was on direct grant aid being replaced by a competitive bid, but we did not make that decision. It was a Government decision and it is being rolled out. One year and nine months into the SICAP programme, there is a good understanding between us and the local development company programme, which implements the projects at local level, on targets that are being set. There is a similarly good understanding between us and the Department and us and Pobal. There may seem to be a lot of bureaucracy and form filling but it has led to a better understanding, particularly in relation to the target groups. Deprived and disadvantaged areas will form part of the three areas in which we are working.

Deputy Casey asked about local action groups, LAGs, and said that some groups have been asked to go through procurement before they could apply to the Leader programme for grant aid. I hope he is exaggerating. In two or three counties the local development companies are the LAGs, while in the rest the LCDC is the local action group, and expressions of interest have been sought by most of them for projects. It will be 2017 before the applications come back to the evaluation committees and the LAGs for approval. A project needs to be researched well and business plans and planning permissions need to be in place as these are EU rules and we have to abide by them. A project has to be well developed before it can be considered for funding.

Mr. Dowling covered the questions about the level of bureaucracy and we will try to assist community groups, especially those which shout the loudest, which are better prepared and get in there first to get the bulk of the funding. We are insisting that local development groups, as the implementing partner, fund capacity-building for weaker groups and those in disadvantaged areas in order that those communities can avail of projects.

We will try to be as accessible as possible. In my area there have been community consultations and any Leader funding has been explained, which I assume has happened nationwide. There were queries on public participation networks, PPNs, but Mr. Reid covered those. We are working on the length of time it takes, from assessment committees to the LAG, to assess projects for approval. We try to have tight timescales but, equally, to have the capacity and time to deal with them in a fair and transparent way. Senator Murnane O'Connor mentioned disadvantaged areas and RAPID programmes. I believe the Department is planning to introduce funding for them again.