Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The review of local and community development structures initiated by me and the Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government commenced in 2003.

Deputies will be aware that the guiding principles-terms of reference for the approach were improving on the ground services, supports and impacts on local communities, from within existing levels of resources; streamlining and rationalising structures so as to avoid overlaps, duplication and undue administrative overheads; bringing transparency, co-ordination and improved control to the funding and operation of local-community development measures; and strengthening the democratic accountability of agencies and service providers in this area.

As I indicated in my reply to Questions Nos. 151, 153, 156, 163, 172, 173 and 185 of 4 February 2004, arising from the review, the Government agreed to a number of proposals to improve delivery of services on the ground; improve arrangements under which community and local development initiatives are delivered; reaffirm Government's commitment to local and community development programmes; and improve cohesion and focus across various measures and enable communities to more readily access and make maximum use of the funding available.

In line with this decision, community and local development groups across urban, rural and Gaeltacht areas were requested to bring forward measures for improved alignment of structures in their respective areas by mid-2004. This process was co-ordinated by the local county and city development boards, CDBs.

As a result of the process, Cohesion Funding in the amount of €3,248,600 was allocated during 2004 to support specific measures aimed at improving the co-ordination of service delivery at local level. These were mainly focused on improving current arrangements on resources, staffing and geographic coverage.

In 2005-06 I am making funding of €7 million available for measures focused on the alignment of local, community and rural development organisations to achieve full county-city coverage by 2006. In rural areas, this will involve Leader and partnership, including community partnership, groups coming together to secure a unified structure that will provide full area cover. The intention is to secure full coverage of the local development social inclusion programme throughout the State. It will also be possible to deliver schemes such as the rural social schemes through these unified structures because they have full area cover. Proposals from local and community development groups are being assessed by an external consultant engaged by my Department.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

As indicated previously to the House, in line with the Government decision, new community development projects have been established on the basis of maximising recourse to existing structures. Of the 15 pre-development projects originally included in the community development programme, 12 are being delivered through existing community development projects or partnership companies. In addition, the funding available for intermediaries, such as regional support agencies, has been significantly reduced. This serves to maximise the resources available for community benefit. The number of such agencies with which my Department has a contract under the programme has been reduced from 13 to six. The six successful tenders commenced their contracts from 1 July 2004.

The process of restructuring ADM Limited has been progressed. The company name has been changed to Pobal and the necessary changes to the memorandum and articles of the company have been made to allow for Government to appoint the chair and members of the board. The Government has recently appointed seven new members.

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