Written answers
Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Department of Rural and Community Development
Community Development Projects
Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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88. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will outline the total funding for local community development committees for each of the past five years; if she will commit to significantly increasing it this year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4009/24]
Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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103. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she is satisfied with the level of resources available to local community development committees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4010/24]
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs), as created under the Local Government Reform Act, 2014, bring together local authority members and officials, state agencies, people actively working within local development and community development and economic, cultural and environmental organisations with a view to implementing a joined-up, cross-sectoral approach to local and community development programming through the medium of a Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP).
My Department has strategic responsibility for the local and community development governance structures introduced on foot of the local government reform process, namely the LCDCs and LECPs. This involves supporting the operation of the LCDCs and the development and implementation of the LECPs on an ongoing basis.
In this context, my Department provides annual financial support to local authorities to support their community function, including the work of the LCDCs. Total funding to the local authorities, known as the 'Additional Staff Resource' or ASR, over the past five years, is set out in table below.
| Year | Total Funding for LCDC |
|---|---|
| 2019 | €1.878m |
| 2020 | €2.058m |
| 2021 | €2.040m |
| 2022 | €2.040m |
| 2023 | €2.110m |
A review of the ASR has recently concluded and has re-affirmed a clear and continuing need for this funding. Budget 2024 has provision for an additional €1m for the relevant sub-head and I have committed to a significant increase in funding for the LCDCs for 2024.
The review of funding of LCDC-related functions via the ASR also forms part of a wider consideration of how DRCD can support local authorities to deliver on DRCD funded capital schemes and programmes more generally.
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