Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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A Chathaoirligh, I thank you for allowing me to raise this matter and I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House.

I wish to speak about the proposed changes to the RAPID areas in Cork city, which will have specific implications in Ballyphehane and Togher. RAPID has been of great benefit to these areas and has delivered a great enhancement of public services and of the public realm. Through an integrated and co-ordinated approach, it has provided communities with a great opportunity to participate in the strategic improvement of their areas.

The Minister has announced that he will change the boundaries for Ballyphehane and Togher. I welcome the inclusion of Ballyphehane in the RAPID area, but we must not end up in a situation where the restructured areas are cut back, and that half of Ballyphehane and Togher are not included. The whole area must be included. There have been great achievements in Ballyphehane and Togher through active engagement with local networks, and through the shared delivery by community participation in programmes with Cork City Council, with educational establishments and with the RAPID team. The Ballyphehane and Togher community development programme has pioneered innovative development work with older people, women, young people and many groups within the area in schemes like social health and active community involvement. This service delivery is important to the community of Ballyphehane and Togher. The communities have a track record of delivery and of participation.

I am worried that the Minister has decided to exclude areas in Ballyphehane that include the Ballyphehane GAA club. I have a map that outlines the decisions the Minister made for the scheme. I am hoping he will include the area around Ballyphehane Green, which includes the GAA club.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin, delivered a letter to the area entitled "Reinvestment and Funding Opportunities for Togher and Ballyphehane", and he states "I am delighted to inform you that the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuív, has announced the expansion of the current RAPID boundaries to include additional areas in Ballyphehane and Togher". That is fine for the Minister and the Government to do that, but as an elected representative and as a former member of the RAPID area who has worked with Mr. McGann and Ms Cogan Williamson, I wrote to the Minister about the proposed extension of the scheme, but got no reply.

We must continue to empower people through RAPID. It is not all about funding. It is about giving people the ability to participate in their own area. That has happened, but the area around the GAA club, comprising Hillview Estate, Connolly Road and the green, must be included in the RAPID area. I am also worried that we are taking out part of rural Togher, which is still in need of a RAPID designation. I appeal to the Minister to go back to include Hillview Estate, Connolly Road and the green in which Ballyphehane GAA club is housed, and to look at the possibility of keeping the Togher rural area in the scheme.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Given that RAPID is being extended for Ballyphehane, the area around Ballyphehane GAA club, Ballyphehane Green, Connolly Road and Hillview Estate should be included, particularly in view of the remarks about area implementation teams being able to support sports clubs outside the designated area. I ask the Minister of State to press the Minister to include the GAA club as part of the RAPID area.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has not made a final decision yet.