Vol. 524 No. 1
107 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the current position with regard to the introduction of the Leader+ programme; the progress made to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21825/00]
Leader type activity in the period to 2006 will be delivered through the European Union Leader+ programme, together with a mainstream national rural development programme. Funding of over £117 million has been allocated to these two programmes.
Following a number of information seminars around the country, my Department invited applications from rural development groups interested in participating in the new programmes. Advertisements inviting interested groups to submit business plans for either or both programmes were placed in the national and farming press with a closing date of 27 October 2000 for receipt of applications.
An independent consultant will be commissioned to examine and make recommendations on selection. The Department will consider this assessment and report to Government who will make the final decisions on groups. The process for selection of groups to operate the new programmes will proceed contemporaneously with the Commission's consideration of the Leader+ operational programme.
Work on the preparation of the operational programme for Leader+ is at an advanced stage and it is expected that it will be lodged with the European Commission in the coming weeks. The programme will also be presented to the special North-South EU Programmes Body for its endorsement in tandem with the Northern Ireland Leader programme.
A period of five months is provided for to facilitate the Commission's consideration of the programme prior to deciding on approval. While I will be pushing for early approval of the programme, it is unlikely that approval will be forthcoming before the end of the year.
The national rural development programme forms part of the regional operational programmes and will be funded under the National Development Plan 2000-2006. Given their complementarity, the European Commission has indicated that the approval process for the national rural development programme and the Leader+ will take place simultaneously.
