Labour briefing:Five per cent of the National Development Plan budget will be ringfenced for early investment in disadvantaged communities, the Labour Party has promised if elected to government.
It also highlighted its plan to invest €180 million in free pre-school education for all three-year-olds before they begin primary school.
Launching the party's "Fair Deal for Communities", Róisín Shortall said Labour wanted to replace the Rapid programme "where €2 billion was promised for Rapid areas of particular disadvantage and that hasn't materialised".
She said in the Finglas area alone "10 district electoral divisions tick all the boxes in terms of severe disadvantage yet only two of those have been selected for the Rapid programme without any explanation".
Labour would instead use local area census data to compile accurate "deprivation indexes" to provide help. She also pledged multi-annual guaranteed funding for initiatives. Too many "operate on a shoestring. People might get a lump of money one year. They don't know whether that programme is going to continue in further years."
Senator Derek McDowell, the party's Dublin North Central candidate, said many of those communities lost out because "they are not necessarily the most vocal members of society. They need support to galvanise around their issues."
