Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey has welcomed an increased allocation of €898,621 to Clare County Council from the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) administered by the Department of Rural and Community Development.

“This funding will be used to tackle poverty and social exclusion through local engagement and partnerships between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations and public sector agencies,” Deputy Carey explained.

Co-funded by the European Social Fund under the Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning, the scheme is operated by by the Clare Local Development Company in behalf of Clare County Council.

“This year’s programme provides funding of €39,168,430 to local authorities throughout the country which is an increase of over €1.1 million on last year’s fund,”  Deputy Carey added.