Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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28. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development her plans to increase funding for the social inclusion and community activation programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9240/23]

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. It 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. I was delighted to have secured a 10% increase for SICAP for 2022, the largest increase since the programme was launched. This year, I secured an increase of €1.3 million under Budget 2023, increasing the annual funding from €43 million to €44.3 million.

In 2022, 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. An additional €10 million is also being provided under SICAP in 2023 to allow Local Development Companies to continue their work to support arrivals from the 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.