Forty-five of the most socially deprived urban areas in Ireland are to receive €200,000 each year as part of a Government programme to revitalise those areas.
Announcing reforms to the Rapid (Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development) programme, the Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr O'Cuiv, said the programme should have an annual budget of €10 million.
He told Ennis Town Council that he has been allocated €4.5 million for the Rapid programme and plans to more than double the amount with matching funding from other Government departments, local authorities and health boards.
The allocation of €4.5 million for 2004 is the first specific allocation to Rapid since the launch of the programme by the Taoiseach Mr Ahern in February 2001.
The programme had come under fire after failing to include a specific capital annual budget before now. Its launch was accompanied with a promise that €1 billion of Government funding would be "front-loaded" into the designated areas over three years.
