Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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659. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the cost of restoring the revitalising areas by planning, investment and development, RAPID, programme funding to the level that last pertained before this Government took office. [46327/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The RAPID programme aims to ensure priority attention is given to tackling the spatial concentration of poverty and social exclusion in areas covered by the programme.

Over the past number of years, my Department has continued to meet its existing contractual commitments on RAPID projects throughout the country. My Department co-funded the RAPID Leverage Schemes, which supported projects that focus on estate enhancement, graffiti removal, traffic calming, community closed-circuit television, health and sports facilities and the provision of playgroups. The table below provides details of RAPID funding provided in the years 2010 to 2015. There is now just one remaining measure under the RAPID programme, which accounts for unpaid commitments, namely the sports capital top-ups. In 2015, I allocated funding of €500,000 for sports capital projects under the programme and these are being jointly funded with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

The figures in the table that follows this reply include funding provided until 2013 contributing to the salaries of RAPID co-ordinators in local authorities. These posts are now funded at local authority level as part of day-to-day operational costs.

The RAPID programme has made substantial progress in identifying the needs of disadvantaged communities and in bringing forward important local projects in response to those needs. I intend that the focus will remain on tackling poverty and social exclusion in RAPID areas and this will be more effectively combined with other programmes and actions delivered on an area basis.