A Cheann Comhairle, thank you for the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment and I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry for coming in to reply. May I share my time with Deputy Michael Ahern?
Adjournment Debate. - Leader II Funding.
Is that satisfactory? Agreed.
Yesterday it was announced that funding under Leader II would be distributed to groups around the country and this was greeted with considerable disappointment in County Louth. It was the second time under the Leader programmes that the very positive and worthwhile development plan put together in the county was not funded. All prior statements clearly indicated that the distribution under the Leader II programme would be on a nation-wide basis. Apparently the statement indicates there is merely a pre-development provision for County Louth and for one or two other countries.
The opportunity is there to provide a specific sum and nothing will concentrate the minds of community groups better than the availability of a specific sum to proceed with their plan. I am sure the criteria for expenditure under the Leader II programme will reflect the lessons learned under Leader I.
What worried me greatly is the perception that counties such as Louth do not need the funding available under the programme. There are many worthwhile projects there awaiting support from Leader II. Early this morning two constituents came to me having realised from this morning's newspapers that County Louth would be effectively excluded this time round. Louth is a Border county and the rural communities need the dynamic the Leader programme provides. The success of projects under the Leader programme reflects its importance to the development of rural communities. There is a great danger that rural communities will die and many are dying. There is a need to invest to stimulate the local community and to stimulate the concept of self help, which is very strong in rural Ireland.
I am very disappointed that County Louth was excluded from the Leader II programme and I will be more than pleased if the Minister decides to reverse the decision and provide a worthwhile sum for the County Louth business plan.
I thank Deputy Kirk for sharing his time with me. I will not speak about Louth but about my constituency, Cork East. Three groups applied for Leader funding, East Cork Area Leader Development Limited——
I hesitate to do anything that would disadvantage the Deputy at this stage but I gave permission to Deputy Kirk to raise a matter appertaining to the Leader plan for County Louth and I cannot allow a deviation from that.
With regard to the pre-development acquisition of skills category that applies to County Louth and other areas, will the Minister expand on what is required of groups that applied for and were refused funding under the Leader programme? In areas such as Louth and dare I say my constituency there are wealthy farmers as well as people who are unemployed and there is a need for this type of project to improve employment. An explanation has not been given to those who have been disappointed by the refusal to provide funding. Will the Minister spell out in detail the reasons for such refusals so that we can talk about the facts?
Louth or Deputy Ahern's constituency is excluded from Leader II and I hope all groups involved will be included in its developmental phase as soon as possible.
The Leader II programme, which is the EU Community initiative for rural development, provides for aid for local action groups in the form of two measures: first, "acquiring skills", or the pre-development stage as it is called, and second, "Rural Initiation Programmes", implementation of a business plan on the lines of Leader I.
The pre-development stage is intended particularly to apply in areas where the practice of the integrated development process is new. It is clearly intended to apply in areas where the group is not sufficiently strongly established or where the underlying strategy of the business plan requires some further research and improvement before the group moves on to fully-fledged Leader status.
The operational programme for the implementation of Leader II here, which was prepared by my Department and recently approved by the European Commission, provides for aid under the two measures I have described to meet the Commission's requirements.
While there is generally a high level of awareness of the approach to local development and a high degree of competence to implement local integrated plans, rural development is a long term process. It is evident from the experience of recent programmes, including the Pilot Programme for Integrated Rural Development, 1988 to 1990 and the Leader I initiative, that rural communities can be at different points in the development learning curve. In preparing for Leader II, the Commission recognised the need to provide for a pre-development stage where some communities require special support, through animation and capacity building, to assist them in the establishment of a cohesive local action group, build their confidence, set about identifying local potential and engage in strategic planning to advance to the point where the group is capable of implementing a local development plan.
As the House may be aware, 48 business plan applications were received under Leader II representing all parts of the country, including County Louth. My Department engaged independent consultants to help to evaluate the various plans and to recommend on the selection of groups to implement Leader II. While acknowledging the work of the local group in preparing the plan, the overall quality of the proposals did not rank sufficiently highly, by reference to the Leader criteria, for inclusion in the programme as a fully fledged Leader group. However, the group was approved for aid under the pre-development phase of the programme.
Under this arrangement, a fund of £1 million has been set aside to provide technical assistance to the pre-development Leader groups for the purposes I described above.
My Department will very shortly be in touch with the Louth group to discuss its financial needs in the pre-development phase. The intention is that aid will be available for the group to establish itself legally, to form internal structures and administrative procedures, implement a community consultative and animation process, devise a strategy for local development and, finally, amend its business plan. Subject to satisfactory progress in this regard, I envisage that the group will proceed quite quickly to full Leader status and the implementation of an acceptable business plan.
A fund of £7.747 million has been reserved for allocation to the groups selected in the pre-development phase who will ultimately qualify for full Leader status. Allocation of this amount is dependent on the progress of the groups in the initial phase. While individual allocations are not being made at this stage I am confident, based on the work undertaken to date and the determination and commitment of those involved, that all of the pre-development groups, including the County Louth group, can quickly advance to the point where they can implement business plans for their areas with their own substantial level of public funding.
I understand the concern expressed by Deputies Kirk and Ahern. Communities will be disappointed that they are not in the development phase but I am hopeful that all groups will be in this phase as quickly as possible. I am prepared to meet the County Louth group immediately to ensure it understands how to get into the development phase. Other Deputies from the constituency were in contact with me concerning this matter, including my colleague, Deputy McGahon. Obviously there is concern in Louth about this matter.
I am also prepared to meet the Cork group. There was some consultation with the Cork groups and I hope the problem there will be resolved as soon as possible. As Deputy Ahern is no doubt aware, four groups in Cork were successful and there are a further five groups. There was a large number of applications from Cork and I hope some of them will come together and form strong Leader groups. If groups cooperate with my officials I am sure they would all be in the developmental phase as soon as possible.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 4 May 1995.