Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 231: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the plans he has for the RAPID programme; if it is intended to develop the programme further; when the next meeting of the national monitoring committee will take place; if he will meet all the chairs, community representatives on the area implementation teams and the RAPID co-ordinators; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10357/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 232: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of RAPID area implementation teams he has met since assuming office and the details of the plans she has to meet AITs in the coming two months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10358/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 231 and 232 together.

Responsibility for the RAPID programme transferred to my Department on 1 May 2011. 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 playgroups.

The RAPID Programme faces significant challenges, given that the budget for the RAPID Leverage Schemes has reduced from an out-turn of €9 million in 2009 to a capital 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. As part of these deliberations, consultations with the National Monitoring Committee as well as the Chairs and Coordinators of the Area Implementation Teams will take place in due course.