Ms Adeline O'Brien:

I thank Senators Murphy and Wall. Senator Wall asked about an increase in the SICAP budget. Nationally, SICAP supports 30,000 people annually and approximately 3,500 groups on average over the life of the programme. All of the reports show that it is having a huge impact on the individuals themselves, as well as the communities we serve. It is about doing more because there is obviously huge demand. We are seeing demand for services post pandemic and coming out of lockdown. The digital inclusion fund must be addressed and the SICAP infrastructure through the local development network is perfectly placed to address that. Specific supports are also needed for people exiting the direct provision system, who will be integrating into communities around Ireland. The local development network has tentacles in every community across Ireland so our infrastructure is well placed to do that. I spoke previously about isolation but the opposite of that is people engaging in their communities and connecting with the communities around them. We are looking at programmes like social prescribing, which speak to the heart of how people are connected with the people around them and the communities in which they live. Those are the key areas we are looking at but demand for our services is growing and increasing, and that will be particularly true in the next few months. We can see the evidence of that becoming very clear.