John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the end of year expenditure on the RAPID programme for 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42916/06]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As I have indicated to the House on a number of occasions, it is a matter for individual Departments to report progress with their projects under the RAPID programme. In support of my Department, Pobal collects data from each RAPID area in respect of funding allocations received by projects from Government Departments and local state agencies. The latest data in respect of the programme is available on Pobal's website under the RAPID section (http://www.pobal.ie/live/RAPID). The Deputy may find it helpful to access this information. I understand that full data in respect of the year 2006 will not be collected until early 2007.

The Deputy will be aware that I launched the RAPID Leverage Fund in 2004 to support small-scale projects identified by the Area Implementation Teams. The Exchequer provides the funding for these schemes.

The following are the allocations I have approved for each of the Leverage Schemes. Expenditure relates to the position at the end of November 2006. While some expenditure is expected in the month of December, I do not expect the final outcome for 2006 to differ greatly from the position indicated.

Of course RAPID areas benefit from spending under programmes other than the RAPID. Disbursements from the Dormant Accounts Fund are made within the overall framework of the Disbursement Plan provided for in the legislation. Under the initial round of funding, the Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board approved 521 projects for funding totalling over €60 million. Consistent with the direction given by Government when approving the Disbursement Plan, approximately €32 million of these approvals were in respect of projects based within RAPID areas.

Following the enactment of the Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Act 2005, further funding was ring-fenced to support priority projects in RAPID areas under the 2006 round of funding €11.35 million was subsequently allocated in support of 188 projects.

My Department also has responsibility for the work of the 14 Local Drugs Task Forces (LDTF) and 10 Regional Drugs Task Forces. The LDTFs were established in the areas experiencing the worst levels of drug misuse, particularly heroin, and many of them have RAPID areas within them. Over €150 million has been allocated to the Task Forces to implement two rounds of local action plans. A further €14.36 million has been allocated to capital projects under the LDTF Premises Initiative, which is designed to meet the accommodation needs of community-based drugs projects.

Approximately €108 million has been allocated to-date to support the work of the Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund in LDTF areas and four other urban centres. The main aim of the Fund is to attract "at risk" young people in disadvantaged areas into recreational facilities and activities and divert them away from the dangers of substance misuse. It is not possible to quantify the exact spend in RAPID areas.