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

Supports are available across my Department's broad range of funding programmes to build the capacity of groups to engage in application processes. The social inclusion and community activation programme is the Government's primary social inclusion intervention. The newest iteration features a dedicated core area of community animation, focusing on building capacity in community representative structures, establishing new community groups, and empowering communities to lead on identifying their own needs and sustainably managing their response to challenges into the future.

Within the social inclusion area, capacity is also being built through the Empowering Communities programme, which aims to empower local communities to craft their own response to area-based poverty, social exclusion and the resulting consequences, with the support of the relevant local community development committee.

With regard to the community services programme, CSP, last year my Department provided a series of workshops to build capacity in organisations to apply for funding under the programme. Specific funding of €150,000 was also made available through the Dormant Accounts Fund to provide support and capacity-building in organisations that applied under CSP strand 1 and were categorised as eligible with potential.

Related to this, the newly established social innovation measures under the European Social Fund Plus aim to enhance capacity within organisations involved in social innovation and social enterprise. That may not relate directly to the Deputy's constituency, but the LEADER programme is delivered through local action groups and their implementing partners, who work on the ground with prospective applicants to help guide them through the LEADER application process and to see their projects through to completion. This locally led approach and the animation of local communities is a core part of the programme.

With regard to the renewal of town centres, the town centre first policy is a joint initiative between my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage. It is putting in place a suite of supports and tools to help businesses and local communities deliver on the vision for their area.

More generally, my Department has a strong focus on building the capacity of organisations within the community and voluntary sector. Under Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, a comprehensive training needs assessment process is now complete with assessment reports due for publication later in this quarter. It is my intention to work with the sector to implement the report recommendations to meet the identified needs.

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