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

We have to trust in the local authorities' decision-making processes as well to some extent, but at the same time we look at how they were done and we can learn from this round for future plans. I would point to a couple of things that we have been doing and that are particularly dedicated and pointed at particularly disadvantaged communities, namely the empowering communities programme that I launched. We have 15 very specific areas that we chose based on the level of deprivation, probably the most deprived 15 areas of the country. We have put additional community workers in there, about two in each case. The results of that programme have been astonishing. It just shows that when you put community workers in, they can make a real difference. We should be able to build that a little bit this year. Going forward I think it is part of the answer to the issue the Deputy raised.

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