Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The short answer is "Yes". The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I had a meeting with local authority chief executives earlier this year which informed the budget process as well.

We stay in touch with the local community development committees, LCDCs, which the Department oversees. I stay in touch with the public participation network. Some 15,000 community organisations are members of the network nationally and I had a meeting with them earlier this year. It is fair to say that of all Departments, the Department of Rural and Community Development is extremely connected with organisations on the ground. I am proud to say that.

The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, in Kildare received more than €1 million this year. That is particularly important because it is reaching those who are most vulnerable. That is the particular aim of SICAP.

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