The Rural Development Programme for Ireland 2007-2013 was approved by the EU Commission in July 2007. It has a budget of €5.778 billion over the lifetime of the Programme of which €2.339 billion will be funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EARDF) and €3.438 billion by the national exchequer.
The main measures and allocation of funds under Axes 1 and 2 are REPS/Natura (€2.98bn), Disadvantaged Areas (€1.8bn), Early Retirement (€418m), Installation Aid (€63m) and Farm Investment (€85m). All of these Schemes have now been commenced.
There is a budget allocation of €425m for the broader rural development measures under Axis 3 and these will be implemented using LEADER, which emphasises a "bottom up" approach comprising area based local development strategies implemented by local action groups.
Expenditure under the Programme at the end of June 2008 was close to €798.2m, being 13.8% of the total Programme budget. This expenditure has funded the investment and environmental measures under axis 1 and 2 and expenditure under the Leader measures will commence when the local action groups are fully established later this year.