Departmental Funding

4. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht if social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, funding for next year will be increased or decreased; and the way in which he expects to maintain the delivery of services under the programme if extra resources are not allocated while current costs increase. [73143/26]

I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for taking this question on behalf of his colleague Deputy McGuinness. I want to offer my sympathies to the people of Waterford on the very tragic deaths that took place this week. I offer Deputy McGuinness our sympathies and assure the House that the Department has been in contact with Buíon Phort Lairge, which is working to provide support. Again, I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for taking the question this morning. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, is our primary social inclusion programme. Its core aim is to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality. The Minister and I secured almost €74 million for SICAP, and other social inclusion supports in budget 2027. Just less than €65 million of that allocation is for SICAP, providing greater long-term funding stability for the programme and enabling the continuation of important work across the country. The final estimated allocation for each area will be confirmed in the Revised Estimates volume, which will be published in December and considered by the relevant roghchoistí. A particularly welcome development is the provision of long-term funding certainty, which we have secured in this budget, with previously temporary funding for new arrivals made a permanent part of the core SICAP allocation. This represents an important step towards ensuring that community integration supports can be delivered on a more sustainable basis. As with all public expenditure, the Department has a responsibility to ensure that SICAP resources are used effectively and deliver maximum benefits. This will involve improving processes and maximising the impacts of available resources while maintaining effective services and supports for individuals and communities. In this Department, the Minister and I remain committed to supporting SICAP and engaging with programme implementers to identify emerging needs and understand ongoing and continuing pressures affecting service delivery at a local level. We meet with people every day of the week. For the Department and for us as Minister and Minister of State, it is essential that the work continues to make a meaningful difference to those experiencing poverty, social exclusion and other forms of disadvantage throughout the country.

The SICAP programme has been a godsend to many communities around the country. They were also concerned when the Minister said in the past that a number of efficiencies would be driven under the SICAP head or the broad area. The concern was that that would equate to a cut whereas sometimes efficiencies do not as the money is better spent. Will the Minister of State assure those who have a commitment from the Department that there will not be a cut in their funding allocations? I turn to the long-term funding of community integration. There is a huge challenge for us. The more money that can be spent in local communities to help them overcome social exclusion, the better it will be for us. The main issue is to ensure that within the €74 million pool, the money goes to those communities.

I assure the Deputy of a number of things. First, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I have been clear that this budget was about providing certainty for SICAP, which we have secured. Second, we will work with those who implement the programme to plan the services they deliver. We have given stability and that core funding guarantee. Third, I assure the Deputy that the Minister, the Department and I remain 100% committed to working to secure incremental and sustainable funding increases for SICAP in the future in keeping with our programme for Government commitments. The Deputy made it clear in his remarks that it is a godsend, and he is right. In a complex world, the Department, the Minister and I are conscious of the pressures in terms of costs and staff retention and recruitment. We will engage with the community development companies across the country. This budget has given certainty to the overall SICAP programme. We look forward to delivering for people who are fé bhrú in communities across the country.

Similar to areas I have asked about in the past, some of these individual programmes and groups have costs, like insurance. If there was a co-ordinated approach, those types of overheads could be better shared and reduced. If all the SICAP projects could avail of a centralised insurance pot, it might lower the costs they have. If required purchasing was centralised, more would be bought for the whole country. These may be some of the efficiencies, without affecting the projects themselves. We can and should continue to support it. I welcome the long-term funding approach because security is required in these instances.

The point Deputy Ó Snodaigh made, and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, mentioned, on collective insurance is one we might talk to the Deputy about again. We are acutely aware. Both of us are hands-on Ministers. We understand the pressures and the costs. In the budget just gone, we got €2 million for current expenditure but that is more for community groups rather than SICAP. We are aware of and the Deputy is correct to articulate that rising delivery cost, in particular the staff retention and staff recruitment piece. That last point about the collective insurance is one we might have a conversation about because we want to engage. We want to ensure the continuing viability and long-term sustainability of SICAP, which is yielding results. We see it every week. When you go out across the country, you see the benefit. You see people's lives being enriched, communities being empowered, poverty being reduced and communities enhanced by this scheme. We have a lot of great work being done. I am conscious there are some who are critical of it who think we should not be investing at all, but I say to those people that if they had come out the day we did the launch of SICAP with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, they would have seen the hands-on, the lifelong learning, the access, the opening of new types of careers that were never possible and the opportunities for people. We might have a further conversation again about that.