Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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119. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide additional funding for the social inclusion and community activation programme in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45114/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion programme. The current iteration began on 1 January 2018 and will run until the end of 2023. My officials have begun the process of developing a new iteration of SICAP which will begin in 2024. The programme provides funding to tackle poverty and social exclusion at a local level through local engagement and partnerships between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations and public sector agencies.

The funding for SICAP is subject to the annual budgetary estimates process and I was delighted to have secured a 10% increase for SICAP for 2022, the largest increase since the programme was launched.

Earlier this year, an additional €5 million funding was announced to support the Local Development Companies, through SICAP, for the community response to support people arriving from Ukraine.

I recognise the vital work the programme does in helping so many individuals and groups, by improving the life chances of those who are marginalised in society, living in poverty or unemployed, and I will continue to prioritise funding for SICAP within my Department’s overall voted expenditure.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the new Leader programme will be operational; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45113/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I was delighted to welcome the recent announcement that the European Commission has confirmed their approval of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan for 2023-2027, which includes the LEADER programme. This approval is a key step in the delivery of the next LEADER programme.

A number of further steps will now be completed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in advance of bringing the CAP Plan to Government for final approval in the coming weeks.

My Department’s focus now is to finalise the design of the new LEADER programme in conjunction with key stakeholders.

The process to select the Local Action Groups to implement the new programme which will be open, transparent and competitive and will be conducted over two stages. I hope to confirm full details of this process shortly.

The first stage will be an Expression of Interest by eligible groups followed by a more detailed stage which will see them develop their LEADER strategies. All groups that are successful in Stage 1 will be provided with funding to assist with the costs associated with developing a Local Development Strategy in Stage 2 of the process. This is a much more detailed stage, with some 6 months being provided for strategy development. A fund of €2 million has been ring-fenced for this purpose.

It is now important that the key public and private stakeholders in communities across Ireland come together in partnership to deliver a LEADER programme that will build on the fantastic success of the programme over the last 30 years and to ensure that LEADER continues to play a central role in supporting rural communities into the future.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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121. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if transitional funding will be made available to bridge the gap in the Leader programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44986/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The LEADER Programme is a key intervention of Our Rural Future, the Government’s Policy for rural development which aims to deliver a range of actions to rural communities over the lifetime of the policy. It is a multi-annual programme for rural development co-funded by the EU through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

I was delighted to welcome the recent announcement that the European Commission has confirmed their approval of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan for 2023-2027, which includes the LEADER programme. This approval is a key step in the delivery of the next LEADER programme for the period 2023-2027

A number of further steps will now be completed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in advance of bringing the CAP Plan to Government for final approval in the coming weeks.

As part of the new Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan, the Government has committed significant funding of €180m to LEADER for 2023-2027. This allocation was agreed by Government in October 2021.

Transitional funding of €70m was provided for the LEADER Programme 2021 and 2022 to ensure that there was no gap in funding prior to the commencement of the 2023-2027 programme.

My Department’s focus now is to finalise the design of the new LEADER programme in conjunction with key stakeholders. I hope to be in a position to launch the selection process in the coming weeks.

For the duration of the selection process, stakeholders will be engaged in preparatory work relating to strategy design and a separate funding stream is available to support this work.

While this process is ongoing, existing LEADER Groups will also still be engaged in delivering projects on the ground and in closing out the current programme.

All available project funding has not yet been allocated to projects or drawn down by LEADER groups under the transitional programme. Approximately 80% of project funding has been committed by LEADER groups and I am aware that they continue to develop projects ‘in the pipeline’ in order to fully utilise the available budget.

On top of this core funding, additional Exchequer funding for administration costs has been put in place for LEADER groups who have exhausted all such existing funding in 2022. I have confirmed that this funding will be made available again in 2023, in cases where it is required by LEADER groups. It is not expected that all groups will require such funding in either 2022 or 2023. For example, it is anticipated that only half of LEADER Groups may require this funding by end 2022.

I am confident that the LEADER allocations made available by the Government, as outlined, are sufficient to allow LEADER to build on the success of the programme over the last 30 years in Ireland without any gap in the servicing of the programme.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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122. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the steps that her Department has taken to address the backlog of applications in the local improvement scheme; if she will commit to upholding recent funding increases for the scheme in 2023 considering the demand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44716/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is funded into the future. The LIS supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. The scheme makes an important contribution to connectivity in rural Ireland.

The scheme was reintroduced in 2017 following a number of years with no dedicated funding. Between 2017 and 2021, my Department allocated €80 million towards improvement works on over 3,000 non-public roads and lanes. These works have benefited over 13,300 landowners and residents in these rural areas.

I was pleased, as part of Budget 2022, to announce an increase in the base funding for LIS from €10.5 million to €11 million this year. Following a review of savings within the Department, I have recently announced an additional €11 million for the scheme, so doubling the 2022 allocation to €22 million. This brings the allocation since 2017 to over €100 million.Consideration of future funding of the LIS is of course subject to the ongoing budgetary process and the capital allocations contained in the National Development Plan, but I am confident that the scheme can continue to make a clear contribution to the goals and ambition of Our Rural Future.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Community Centres Investment Fund application closing date was Thursday 14th July 2022, and the appraisal process is currently ongoing. All applications will be subject to a competitive assessment process based on the assessment criteria as set out in the fund guidelines.

Due to the high level of applications to the fund, it is expected to be quarter 4 of 2022 when applicants are notified of the outcome of the application and appraisal process.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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124. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the timeframe for the commencement of the Leader programme; and if there will be scope for local development companies to administer other programmes, given the shortfall of funding. [45153/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I was delighted to welcome the recent announcement that the European Commission has confirmed their approval of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan for 2023-2027, which includes the LEADER programme. This approval is a key step in the delivery of the next LEADER programme.

A number of further steps will now be completed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in advance of bringing the CAP Plan to Government for final approval in the coming weeks.

My Department’s focus now is to finalise the design of the new LEADER programme in conjunction with key stakeholders.

The process to select the Local Action Groups to implement the new programme which will be open, transparent and competitive and will be conducted over two stages. I hope to confirm full details of this process shortly.

The first stage will be an Expression of Interest by eligible groups followed by a more detailed stage which will see them develop their LEADER strategies. All groups that are successful in Stage 1 will be provided with funding to assist with the costs associated with developing a Local Development Strategy in Stage 2 of the process. This is a much more detailed stage, with some 6 months being provided for strategy development. A fund of €2 million has been ring-fenced for this purpose.

Local development companies currently administer a number of Government funded programmes including LEADER which can generate funding revenue for the company. It is open to LDCs to apply to deliver programmes as they are advertised. A local development company that is involved in the delivery of the new LEADER programme following the conclusion of the competitive selection process will continue to be eligible to deliver other funding programmes as is currently the case. I have also recently confirmed that additional Exchequer funding for administration costs associated with LEADER delivery will be available again in 2023 where existing funding is fully utilised.

It is now important that the key public and private stakeholders in communities across Ireland come together in partnership to deliver a LEADER programme that will build on the fantastic success of the programme over the last 30 years and to ensure that LEADER continues to play a central role in supporting rural communities into the future.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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125. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of applications nationwide to the new community centre fund; the number that came from County Kerry; the overall value of applications; when she expects to announce the successful applicants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45003/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Community Centres Investment Fund application closing date was Thursday 14th July 2022, and 1,048 applications were received with funding of almost €71 million sought. I can confirm to the Deputy that 40 applications were received from County Kerry.

The appraisal process is currently ongoing. All applications will be subject to a competitive assessment process based on the assessment criteria as set out in the fund guidelines.

Due to the high level of applications to the fund, it is expected to be quarter 4 of 2022 when applicants are notified of the outcome of the application and appraisal process.