Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important issue. My Department's local community development programme, LCDP, is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. The successor programme to the LCDP, the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, to be rolled out on 1 April, will build on the LCDP aims and objectives. Its aim is to tackle poverty, social exclusion and long-term unemployment through local engagement and partnership between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations, public sector agencies and many other stakeholders.

Community development is an integral part of SICAP and underpins the entire programme. I am confident that supports for the most disadvantaged in our society will continue under SICAP and that the programme will continue to provide supports to those most distant from the labour market. In accordance with the public spending code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of services to clients, which I am sure everyone agrees is critically important, SICAP is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently under way. The public procurement process is a competitive process that 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. The outcome of the procurement process will be known later this month.

In the changing landscape for the community and local government sectors and having regard to my Department's response to differing priorities, the primary focus of my Department must be to ensure that the front-line services being supported, particularly those focused on the needs of the most socially deprived communities, are protected, given the need to ensure best value for the scarce resources available at this time.

While business continuity remains a key concern for all stakeholders, it is not possible to predict what impact, if any, the outcome of the competitive process for the new programme will have with regard to the network of local development companies, LDCs, which are independent limited companies, or their staff.

The outcome of the competitive process will be known later this month and I assume it is this announcement to which the Deputies are referring. At that stage, my Department will review the outcome, mindful of the need to observe procurement regulations and ensure front-line services delivered through the new programme are protected in so far as possible.

My Department does not have any role in the internal operations of LDCs and, therefore, does not have a role in staff or employment matters, which are for the board of each company, as the employer, to manage. Each funding Department is responsible for its funding and contractual arrangements with the local development companies.

In the meantime, all groups which received local community development programme funding in 2014 are being funded through LCDP interim arrangements until 31 March, pending the outcome of the competitive process, which is imminent.

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