Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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My Department's mission is to promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland.

The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), overseen by my Department, is our country’s primary social inclusion programme which aims to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality by supporting disadvantaged communities and individuals. This is a national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies (LDC’s) to help those in the greatest need.

SICAP aims to support the provision of services and enable connections to individuals and groups in search of the types of supports detailed by the deputy. The Department of Further and Higher Education Research, Innovation and Science as well as the Department of Social Protection provide a diversity of supports in the areas outlined in the deputies question.

I believe SICAP is a hugely important programme and I was delighted to secure a total increase of €5.3 million for the programme over the last 2 years, increasing its annual funding allocation to €44.4m. In addition, to assist in the community response to the arrival of Ukrainians, a total of €15 million in SICAP funding was provided to Local Development Companies in 2022 and 2023.

Funding for SICAP is subject to the annual budgetary process. I can assure the Deputy that I review the level of funding for all programmes each year as part of the budgetary process and it remains my intention to continue to prioritise funding for SICAP.