Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 May 2025
394. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the steps being taken to ensure the social inclusion and community activation programme is fully aligned with national anti-poverty and social inclusion strategies over the period 2025 to 2030. [21891/25]
View answerThe Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), 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. It is national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies (LDCs) to help those in the greatest need.
SICAP is a targeted, holistic programme, for those who are most disadvantaged and less likely to access mainstream services, which provides supports directly to beneficiaries and links them into existing services.
By its nature, SICAP’s services cut across a wide range of interdepartmental and national strategies. As such, the programme features commitments on service delivery under these strategies, including the National Action Plan Against Racism 2023 - 2027, the National Traveller, Roma and Inclusion Strategy II 2024 – 2028, the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025, the National Social Enterprise Strategy and National Drugs Strategy, to name but a few. My Department is represented at a range of strategic implementation working groups for such strategies in the SICAP context, to ensure the programme is fulfilling its strategic commitments, to address barriers to implementation and to enhance interagency and interdepartmental co-ordination of services.
My Department regularly engages with local authorities, local development companies and community organisations in developing strategic commitments for SICAP and of course implementation of these social inclusion measures. Additionally, my Department has commenced work on developing successor policies to the Our Rural Future and Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities strategies, and can assure the Deputy that SICAP officials will be engaged throughout the development process to ensure the programme is aligned with the ethos of both strategies.
