Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the position regarding the new dedicated Office for Regeneration which was announced on 3 February 2012 and according to that announcement, was to be a separate entity with the unified local authorities of Limerick city and council and to have responsibility for the management and administration of the regeneration programme of specific areas of Limerick city and if he will provide and outline the legal status of the Office of Regeneration, what the goals of regeneration now are, the areas covered by the Regeneration Project, what the staffing of the Office of Regeneration is and respective responsibilities of the staff and the chain of accountability within the office and of his office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53575/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Following the publication of the Fitzgerald Report on addressing issues of social exclusion in Moyross and other disadvantaged areas of Limerick City the Government agreed to support a regeneration programme for key areas of Limerick City, including Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and Kings Island/St. Mary’s Park. The Limerick Regeneration Agencies (Northside and Southside) were established in June 2007 for a five-year term to 14 June 2012 for the purposes of building confidence and trust within the communities in Limerick and to facilitate a coordinated public sector response to the regeneration process. On the completion of their five-year term, the functions, assets, undertakings and liabilities of the Agencies were formally transferred to Limerick City Council, pending the establishment of the new Limerick Unitary Authority, with a new dedicated Office of Regeneration taking responsibility for managing and implementing the regeneration programme.

The Office of Regeneration, with a dedicated staff of 23 administrative, technical and professional personnel, is headed by a Director of Regeneration, reporting directly to the Unitary Authority Manager. The Office currently has four staff at Senior Executive Officer/Project Manager level to administer the social and economic regeneration programmes and the delivery of the physical implementation plans for the relevant areas. Two senior staff members are located at Moyross and Southill respectively. A complement of staff, including technical and professional staff with appropriate skills in the areas of planning, design and engineering services, are deployed at the Office of Regeneration to support the delivery of regeneration in the city.

The Director is charged with overseeing the transfer of functions from the Agencies to Limerick City Council and progressing the compilation and implementation of strategies and programmes for the physical, social and economic regeneration of the four areas concerned. This new Office, with key decision makers working in a single, unified team, will accelerate the delivery of projects as the regeneration process transitions from the planning to the implementation phase. Regeneration is retained as a separate entity with its own dedicated staff and annual capital budgets which gives a new impetus to regeneration and builds on the foundations laid so far by the Agencies.

Over the past five years, a robust framework has been put in place to facilitate consultation with stakeholder groups on wide-ranging issues relating to the development and implementation of social and physical regeneration strategies. The Office of Regeneration is engaging with this framework to deliver, as a priority, robust Implementation Plans which will act as a roadmap for regeneration in the coming years. An Implementation Plan for the physical, social and economic regeneration of the four areas will be published shortly by the Office of Regeneration .

My Department retains overall responsibility for the policy and funding of the National Regeneration Programme. The programme is managed by an experienced team of administrative and technical personnel with a range of financial management, project management, planning, design, engineering and quantity surveying skills.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will [provide an update of the operation of the specific fund of €1 million (details supplied), for community initiatives that would contribute to regeneration in specific areas of Limerick city and to be managed by the new Office for Regeneration; if he will provide details of the way in which the fund will operate, the criteria that will govern the fund; the way the fund relates to the existing funds available for social initiatives within the Regeneration Project; the initiatives that have received monies from this fund to date; and the period the fund will operate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53576/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The €1 million fund has been used by the Office of Regeneration to support a broad range of social interventions within the regeneration areas, which heretofore had not been included for funding by the former Regeneration Agencies.

The Office of Regeneration established an Assessment Committee, comprising of suitably skilled personnel, to assess applications against a pre-determined set of eligibility criteria. These criteria are clearly set out in the application process and are based on those already in place for the Social Interventions Fund operated by the Agencies and, more recently, by the Office of Regeneration. The criteria used in assessing applications include the specific need being addressed by the proposed project, consistency with the regeneration strategies and programmes, project sustainability, expected outcomes, value for money and capacity within the promoting body in terms of management skills and governance arrangements.

My Department has asked the Office of Regeneration to submit an end of year report on all the projects approved under the measure, together with details of the funding provided and the expected outcomes.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide details regarding the amount of funding available in 2012 and 2013 to support the community and voluntary sectors delivering the regeneration social interventions under the Limerick Regeneration Project in Moyross, Southhill, St Mary's Park and Ballincurra Weston; and if he will outline the criteria, structures and decision making mechanism by which funding applications for such interventions are to be considered in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53577/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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This year my Department is providing €27.5 million to support ongoing regeneration in Limerick. Projected levels of activity in 2013 will be subject to the financial provisions for housing, which will be determined in the context of the 2013 Estimates process.

Some €4 million of the overall 2012 capital allocation is being set aside for the purposes of supporting social intervention initiatives across the four regeneration areas. It will be a matter for the Office of Regeneration to submit to my Department a detailed programme of regeneration projects for funding in 2013, including a programme of social interventions to be delivered by the community and voluntary sectors.

In January 2010, the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) superseded the Community Development and the Local Development Social Inclusion Programmes.

The objective of the Programme is to tackle poverty and social exclusion through partnership and constructive engagement between Government, its agencies, and people in disadvantaged communities.

As part of its four high level goals, the Programme supports individuals into employment and self-employment through education, training, work experience, job placement, enterprise, and the social economy in both urban and rural areas.

The Programme is managed by Pobal on behalf of my Department and is delivered at a local level by the nationwide network of 51 Local Development Companies. This year some €55m has been allocated to the Programme.  Paul Partnership is based in Limerick city and is one such Local Development Company, with a budget for delivery of the LCDP of some €1.6m in 2012.  Two further local development companies, West Limerick Resources Limited and Ballyhoura Development Limited deliver the LCDP in the Limerick county area and have a combined budget of almost €1.2m in 2012.