Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 13: To ask the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs if she will continue with the RAPID programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7987/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the RAPID Programme aims to ensure that priority attention is given to tackling the spatial concentration of poverty and social exclusion within designated RAPID areas nationally. It is a matter for individual Departments to report on the provision of funding and progress on delivery with regard to projects under their responsibility in the different RAPID areas.

My Department administers the RAPID Leverage Schemes, which seek to support small-scale projects identified locally by Area Implementation Teams in each of the RAPID areas. These schemes have been co-funded by the relevant agencies and projects have focused on estate enhancement, graffiti removal, traffic calming, community closed-circuit television, health and sports facilities and the provision of play groups.

The Deputy will appreciate that the RAPID Programme faces significant challenges, given that the capital budget for the RAPID Leverage Schemes has fallen from an out-turn of €9 million in 2009 to an allocation of €2.5 million in 2011. In order to ensure the continued relevance of RAPID, my Department is assessing the case for changing the policy direction of the programme, with a greater focus, inter alia, on the coordination and local consultation roles of the programme, and enhancing the opportunities for input by residents in disadvantaged areas.