Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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13. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the measures he will undertake to strengthen SICAP, social inclusion and community activation programme, in view of the fact there is a commitment in the programme for a partnership Government to strengthen SICAP and increase RAPID funding; and if he will commit to a review of the flawed tendering process that community groups go through when applying for this funding. [17088/17]

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for a Partnership Government gave a commitment to strengthen the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme, SICAP, and to reactivate the RAPID (Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development) Programme. It is anticipated that the re-cast RAPID programme will roll out in 2017. The logistical and other arrangements for that programme are currently under consideration in my Department.

In relation to SICAP, there are a number of actions being undertaken, which my Department is leading out on, and which will lead to a better understanding of SICAP and its impacts, and which will inform my Department in reshaping the next iteration of SICAP, due to roll out in 2018.

Firstly, I am leading a targeted national consultation process which will assist in the design of the next programme, involving national and regional sessions and a number of focus groups in which feedback is being sought from the key stakeholders involved. The consultation process offers a platform to consider how the programme can be refined and for solutions to be put forward in order to strengthen the programme from 2018.

Secondly, the ESRI has begun a qualitative study looking at SICAP goals and its governance structure as part of a wider evaluation project.

There will also be a qualitative research project looking at a cohort of SICAP participants - young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) - carried out by an external provider in 2017.  This research will examine how SICAP’s Programme Implementers identify and engage with this target group, it will look at the types of outcomes being achieved for them and it will put forward good practice examples to inform the next iteration of the programme.

The method for establishing contracts for the next SICAP programme is currently under consideration in my Department, commensurate with, inter alia, legal requirements, compliance with the Public Spending Code and value for money considerations.