Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 406: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if community groups can apply for national lottery funding through his Department to open a community centre; if application forms are currently available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15215/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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There is no specific scheme operating in my Department to which a community group can apply for National Lottery funding to support a community centre.

My Department currently operates two Programmes which have a National Lottery funded element; these are the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) and the Scheme for National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector. Both provide for current funding only and do not, therefore, provide for the type of initiative in question.

However, under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2007-2013 funding of €427m is available for allocation to qualifying projects up to the end of 2013. One of the objectives of the RDP is to identify and provide appropriate amenity and leisure facilities to local communities not otherwise available to them. Accordingly, in this context it may be possible to obtain funding for a project of the nature referred to in the question under the RDP.

For purposes of implementing Axes 3 & 4 of the Rural Development Programme (RDP), the following areas are excluded:

· The City Council boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick

· The Borough Council boundaries of Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford

· The Town Council boundaries of Athlone, Ballina, Castlebar, Cavan, Dundalk, Ennis, Killarney, Letterkenny, Mallow, Monaghan, Mullingar, Tralee, Tuam and Tullamore.

There are 36 Local Action Groups contracted, on my Department's behalf, to deliver the RDP throughout the country and these groups are the principal decision-makers in relation to the allocation of project funding. Such decisions are made in the context of the local development strategy of the individual groups and in line with Departmental operating rules and EU regulations. Contact details for these groups can be found on the website of the National Rural Network at www.nrn.ie.