Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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254. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the arrangements made for ex gratia or other payments to workers made redundant in the process relating to the termination in 2015 of the local and community development programme and its replacement by the social inclusion and community activation programme; the number of workers included in the payment scheme; the body by which payments were made; the authority used to make payments; the funds from which payments were made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35937/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) was the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. LCDP was implemented by Local Development Companies until 31 March 2015 when it was replaced by the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), which was rolled out across communities following a procurement process.

My Department considered the impact following the outcome of the competitive process for the new SICAP Programme, with regard to the network of Local Development Companies (LDCs). It should be noted that my Department has no role in the internal operations of LDCs, which are independent limited companies, and, therefore, does not have a role in relation to staff or employment matters, which are for the Board of each company, as the employer, to manage. Each funding Department is responsible for its own funding and contractual arrangements with the LDCs.

That said, in the past, my Department has, under certain circumstances, supported organisations to ensure that statutory redundancy payments have been made available to cushion the impact of job losses occurring as a result of reductions or cessation in funding for a particular activity or company.  During 2015, Ministerial approval was granted for the amendment of the LCDP financial guidelines to allow for certain redundancy costs to be charged to LCDP funding, subject to written agreement to the limits of spend. The total number of employees who benefited from the scheme amounted to 66 employees, which equated to 52 Full Time Equivalents. A limit was set of statutory payments plus an additional 1.5 weeks, subject to a cap of €40,000 per person.

Pobal managed the process on behalf of my Department, including acting as the paying authority, commensurate with its contractual role in LCDP. It also engaged with stakeholders on mechanisms to address some of the issues and concerns in terms of business continuity, and due diligence etc., to achieve an orderly closure of LCDP, within a workable timeframe, commensurate with the need to observe EU procurement rules. The process has concluded.