Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

262. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the funding of community based women’s networks which does valuable work in supporting disadvantaged women at national and local level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5254/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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 finished at the end of 2013 having operated for four years with funding of €281 million over that period.  It is being implemented on a transitional basis until March 2015, pending the roll out of the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in April 2015 .

In accordance with the Public Spending Code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of services to clients, SICAP is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently underway.

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 National Collective of Community Based Networks (NCCWN) faced a number of challenges in competing in the Stage one process. The results of Stage one were released on 24 September 2014 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 my Department is liaising with other relevant Departments to find a workable solution. My Department will be meeting the NCCWN shortly.

I should say that all groups who received LCDP funding in 2014 are being funded through LCDP interim arrangements until 31 March 2015, pending the outcome of the SICAP competitive process. I can confirm that interim LCDP funding, based on a small budgetary reduction in the order of 6.5%, on 2014 levels, is being provided to NCCWN up to end March 2015. 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 period 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2016.