Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his plans to improve the delivery of services in the areas of community development and social inclusion; the progress made to date on focusing his Department's community and local development funding on the delivery of services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47478/09]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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The Local Development Social Inclusion Programme (LDSIP) and the Community Development Programme (CDP) are my Department's two main social inclusion/community development programmes. Both have a community development element and both have been delivered through separate local structures. As I outlined previously to the House, for some time now my Department has been aware of the need to redesign and streamline these two programmes. I believe that a focused programme with a single integrated delivery structure is needed in order to maximise their impact. The two existing programmes come to an end on 31 December 2009 and will be replaced by a new programme, the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP).

The aim of the new programme is to tackle poverty and social exclusion through partnership and constructive engagement between Government and its agencies and people in disadvantaged communities. The new programme will preserve elements of good practice from the existing CDP/LDSIP programmes and will enhance monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. From 2010, disadvantaged communities will benefit from a more focused programme with clear objectives and simplified and streamlined delivery structures, leading to significant administrative savings and impact efficiencies.