Dáil debates

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Other Questions

Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme

10:20 am

Photo of Ann PhelanAnn Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My Department's local and community development programme, LCDP, is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. It is being implemented on a transitional basis until the end of this month, pending the roll-out of the new social inclusion and community activation programme, called SICAP, on 1 April this year.

In accordance with the public spending code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of services to clients, SICAP is subject to a public procurement process. Tenderers have now been informed of the outcome of their tender and local community development committees, LCDCs, are in the process of issuing contracts to successful tenderers.

The public procurement process was a competitive process that was open to local development companies, other not-for-profit community groups, commercial firms and national organisations that could provide the services to be tendered for to deliver the new programme. Public information events were held at stage one to ensure that interested parties could apply. In addition, detailed weekly questions and answers were published and circulated to interested parties.

The SICAP programme design was open to consultation with representatives of the community and voluntary sector, who were afforded ample opportunity to feed into the programme framework. Indeed, groups within the sector have commended elements of the programme design with respect to the underlying community development principles and cross-cutting horizontal themes.

In the meantime, my Department has continued to ensure that LCDP services for communities in the Dublin Central area have been maintained in a co-ordinated manner through LCDP interim funding arrangements until 31 March. My Department has consulted with Dublin City Council to find a workable solution for transition thereafter.

I am glad to confirm that funding of some €0.6 million outside of, and separate to, SICAP is being provided to the Dublin central groups concerned, pending agreement with Dublin City Council and the local community development committee on an optimum delivery mechanism for the area. This funding is entirely separate to the €0.63 million which is being provided to the Dublin Central area under SICAP.

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