Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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3430. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when her Department plans to reopen the community services programme for applications. [39116/21]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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My Department's Community Services Programme (CSP) supports over 420 community organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model. The CSP provides an annual co-funding contribution of €19,033 for each fulltime equivalent (FTE) position being supported, and, where warranted, provides €32,000 towards the cost of employing a manager.

Qualifying organisations must be social enterprises capable of generating income from their activities in order to meet the full salary costs of the supported posts, for example, from income received from the public use of facilities and services.

Indecon International Economic Consultants carried out an independent review of CSP, on behalf of my Department, with the final report and a high level action plan published in late September 2020. My Department and Pobal have now commenced work on the restructuring of the Programme in association with the CSP Consultative Group.

Pending the transition to the new restructured programme, the scheme is closed to new applications through the Expression of Interest process. However, it is anticipated that the Programme will facilitate new entrants via calls to address identified gaps in service delivery later in 2021.

As a first step in that regard, on 28 April, my Department, in collaboration with the Department for Transport, launched a three-year bike pilot initiative for the provision of high quality up-cycled bicycles and e-bikes for those on low incomes and/or those who are most marginalised and disadvantaged. Funding of €3m is being provided by the Department of Transport for this initiative over a three-year period and will be made available through my Department's Community Services Programme.

The application process for this call closed on 28th May last. The Department received fourteen applications and the five applicants approved for support under this pilot initiative are

- The Rediscovery Centre & Rothar Velo in Dublin 9.

- Frontline Bikes/ Frontline Make Change in Dublin 8.

- Treo Port Lairge CLG (aka Renew Enterprises) in Waterford.

- The Life Cycle Consortium in Galway – Westside Resource Centre and An Mheitheal Rothar.

- Sign & Cycle in Cork – Cork Community Cycles & Deaf Enterprises.