Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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551. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to ring-fence funding to support the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks to deliver the only programme specifically targeted at women form disadvantaged communities; and his further plans to provide support for this most marginalised group who are not named under the SICAP programme. [36555/14]

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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552. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to engage with the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks to resolve the difficulty that has arisen in view of that organisation creating a national structure to meet the requirement of the community development programme which now precludes them from securing funding post 2014 under the new SICAP. [36556/14]

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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553. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to support the voluntary board of the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks with their responsibilities to 17 local women's projects, 44 staff members and approximately 200 non-directly employed staff. [36557/14]

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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554. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that marginalised women are not a target group of the new SICAP programme; and in view of this if he will provide reassurance to the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks that an alternative funding stream will be made available to continue this valuable work (details supplied). [36558/14]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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557. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to ring-fence funding to support the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks to deliver the only programme specifically targeted at women from disadvantaged communities; and his plans providing support for this most marginalised group who are not named under the SICAP programme. [36673/14]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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558. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to engage with the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks, which engaged with 35,580 marginalised women across 17 communities throughout Ireland in 2013 alone, to resolve the difficulty that has arisen because that organisation created a national structure to meet the requirement of the community development programme, which now precludes it from securing funding post-2014 under the new SICAP. [36674/14]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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559. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to support the voluntary board of the National Collective of Community Based Women's Network with their responsibilities to 17 local women’s projects, 44 staff members and approximately 200 non-directly employed staff. [36675/14]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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560. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that marginalised women are not a target group of the new SICAP programme; and if he will provide reassurance to the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks that an alternative funding stream will be made available to continue this valuable work. [36676/14]

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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579. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the funding for the National Collective of Community Based Women’s Networks which does valuable work in supporting disadvantaged women at national and local level; if he will ensure that the current level of funding allocated to NCCWN is guaranteed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37034/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 551 to 554, inclusive, 557 to 560, inclusive, and 579 together.

My Department’s Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. The current Programme officially ended at the end of 2013 having operated for four years with funding of €281m over that period.  It is being implemented on a transitional basis for 2014 with a budget of €47m pending the roll out of the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in April 2015.

Some 17 Women’s Projects under the remit of the National Collective of Community Based Women's Networks (NCCWN) currently receive annual funding of €1.3 million under the LCDP. In addition, my Department also supports a number of Women’s projects under the Scheme to Support National Organisations (SSNO). This funding scheme, which supports national organisations in the community and voluntary sector, aims to provide multi-annual funding towards core costs associated with the provision of services. A new round of funding under this scheme commenced on 1 July 2014, under which the NCCWN  was allocated some €160,122 for the two year period of 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2016.

The SICAP is one of my key priorities and its budget for next year will be decided in the 2015 Estimates process. The Programme’s target groups are:

- Children and Families from Disadvantaged Areas

- Lone Parents

- New Communities (including Refugees/Asylum Seekers)

- People living in Disadvantaged Communities

- People with Disabilities

- Roma

- The Unemployed (including those not on the Live Register)

- Travellers

- Young Unemployed People from Disadvantaged areas

In accordance with the Public Spending Code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of the services to clients, the Programme is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently underway.  Stage one (Expression of Interest) has been completed. Stage two (Invitation to Tender), will get underway in October and will involve the successful applicants from Stage one being invited to apply to one or more Local Community Development Committees, in Local Authority areas, to deliver the programme. Contracts for SICAP will be determined following the outcome of the procurement process.

The public procurement process is a competitive process that is open to Local Development Companies, other not-for-profit community groups, commercial firms and national organisations that can provide the services to be tendered for to deliver the new Programme. In Stage one, joint applications were encouraged and organisations of varying sizes (for example smaller organisations working in consortia with larger organisations) were invited to submit joint applications. That said, I understand that some small groups, such as the groups under the remit of the NCCWN, faced a number of challenges in competing in the Stage one process. The results of Stage one were released on 24 September and I can confirm that none of the NCCWN groups expressed an interest either as lead applicants or as part of a consortium. I am now considering the implications of that for NCCWN and will conclude that consideration as soon as possible.