Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The Minister and I would like to thank the Senator for raising this important issue.

The RAPID programme was first launched in February 2001, with the aim of prioritising and co-ordinating State assistance in some of the most deprived areas. Originally, 25 areas were targeted and this number increased to 51 as the programme gained momentum. A recognised expert in the field of mapping deprivation was contracted to analyse data in the 2006 census across a range of socioeconomic and deprivation indicators, and to make recommendations on the criteria for inclusion of areas in the RAPID programme on this basis.

As a result of this analysis, there are several conclusions about the Togher and Mahon RAPID areas. First, communities within Togher and Ballyphehane were identified as suffering from significant disadvantage, which merited their inclusion in the programme. These communities are mainly made up of houses built by Cork City Council in the 1940s and 1950s. The population has a large elderly component and will benefit from the additional focus on local need which RAPID can provide. Second, areas within the existing Togher RAPID area, which are in the south of the defined area and mostly made up of reasonably modern private housing and new developments, were identified as not meeting the expected current disadvantage levels. In this context, I point out to the House that the local area implementation team has discretion to examine these areas and to recommend their continuing inclusion in the programme, or their removal, based on local knowledge.

It should also be noted that in implementing funding allocations based on RAPID boundaries, care has always been taken to ensure that key local facilities, such as sports clubs, health facilities, schools etc., are offered RAPID status based on the population they serve, not just on their geographic inclusion within the area. Thus, for example, an area implementation team can accept the need to support a sports club which, while physically located outside a RAPID area, is actively serving young RAPID residents and vice versa.

Meetings were held with all of the RAPID local area implementation teams in January this year to brief them on this process. Each AIT has been requested to examine the proposals and either to confirm agreement or to make suggestions for amendments, based on local knowledge. This work is underway and a number of areas have requested amendments and these are currently being examined.

While the Minister has not been formally notified that this work has been finalised by the Togher-Mahon area implementation team, initial indications are that it is in favour of the proposed changes. Since the area implementation team is made up of representatives of the local community and local State agencies, it is anticipated that its advice on this issue will be central to the final decision taken.

With the renewed commitment to the RAPID programme contained in the revised programme for Government, the Department will continue to work with other Departments and agencies to develop a more integrated approach to the delivery of services in the most disadvantaged communities. Through the participation of community representatives, we will ensure that our work in the community benefits from the local knowledge and skills that local residents can offer.