Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Harrington for raising this matter. I am aware that it is extremely important to him and to most of the Deputies who live in coastal constituencies. Along with Deputy McCarthy and a number of others, he has raised this matter on previous occasions.

My Department's local community development programme, LCDP, is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. The most recent programme officially ended at the end of 2013, having operated for four years and provided funding of €281 million during that period. It is being implemented on a transitional basis for 2014, with a budget of €47 million, pending the roll-out of the new social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, in April 2015. I believe it was the appropriate and necessary decision to make that intervention.

My Department currently provides LCDP funding to Comhar na nOileán Teoranta, the company with responsibility for delivering the programme to the offshore islands. In 2014 the Department allocated €527,272 to the company for the delivery of the LCDP to the offshore islands of Bere, Sherkin, Inishturk, Inishbofin and Clare. I am quite familiar with some of these islands and passed through the Deputy's constituency on my way to visit them. In terms of the successor programme, SICAP, the intention is that island areas will be eligible for inclusion in the tendering process, which is currently underway and is due to be completed in February 2015. The SICAP funding allocations are informed by a specific resource allocation model, RAM, which focuses on relative disadvantage of individual areas. Using this model brings logic and consistency to funding allocations and means each funded group receives a fair share of resources. 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 1, joint applications were encouraged and organisations of varying sizes, for example smaller organisations working in consortia with larger ones, were invited to submit joint applications.

Discussions have taken place and are ongoing between my Department and the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht, which has lead responsibility for the islands, in response to the issues raised regarding the continuation of funding for the development offices on a number of non-Gaeltacht Islands. This reflected the fact that the issues involved are broader than just those relating to SICAP, which I acknowledge. I assure the Deputy that both Departments fully understand the importance of the community development infrastructure on these islands. I and my colleagues, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, who has a particular responsibility in this area, will be ensuring that both our Departments continue to collaborate to agree a workable solution into the future. In the meantime, LCDP funding for the groups concerned will continue until the end of March 2015.

See this speech in context