Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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135. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the position regarding supports provided at a local level in community centres targeted at addressing social exclusion; if he will consider increasing funding in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54870/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion intervention programme overseen by my Department. This is a national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies (LDCs) to help those in the greatest need.

SICAP supports individuals and community groups who face disadvantage, providing targeted supports in areas such as employment, mental health, education, and community engagement and improving the quality of life of those facing social exclusion and inequality. The supports are provided by the staff of Local Development Companies in local communities across the country often using community centres as their bases. I am delighted to have secured an additional €1.5m in Budget 2026 which brings the annual funding for SICAP to in excess of €50m in 2026.

My Department’s Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports 428 community-based organisations, with a budget of €55.4 million in 2025, to provide local services through a social enterprise model. 78 of these organisations are associated with community centres (defined as Community Hall, Sports and Resource Centres for CSP) and provide employment to a total of 535 staff, 54 managers and 481 full-time equivalents (FTEs). The total amount of funding allocated to these organisations is €34.6 million over the five-year timeframe of this programme (2023-2027).

The CSP provides an annual co-funding contribution towards each full-time equivalent (FTE) position being supported, and, where warranted, towards the cost of employing a manager. Additional funding of €3 million was provided to the CSP Programme in Budget 2025 and this has been fully allocated to meet the increased employment costs of existing CSP-funded organisations in 2025. I intend to examine the scope for additional funding for the CSP Programme later this year having regard to the funding needs of existing organisations and of organisations who wish to join the programme.