Brendan Griffin
Question:372 Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12767/12]
View answerTuesday, 6 March 2012
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Written answers
Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta Teo (MFG) confirmed that its Board, upon examination of the company's financial situation, took the decision to cease trading on 7 September 2011 on the basis of insolvency. MFG is now in liquidation.
My Department is actively working to ensure that services in Gaeltacht areas previously supplied by MFG can be maintained. With regard to the Rural Development Programme (RDP) potential solutions must also be compliant with the relevant national and EU regulations and frameworks. There are complex legal and contractual issues with regard to MFG to be resolved and my Department is currently working on both long and short term solutions to ensure the continued delivery of the RDP, the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) and other programmes in Gaeltacht areas with the intention of finding a solution that will be efficient and effective and applied at the earliest possible opportunity. Any such solution will be compliant with all requirements of the Official Languages Act 2003.
Pobal, who administer the LCDP on behalf of my Department, has recently put in place an interim arrangement whereby funding for LCDP activities in Gaeltacht areas will be administered through contiguous Local Development Companies (LDCs) for an initial six month period, subject to a review of progress after 3 months. The LDCs have been advised that the LCDP services continue to be delivered to communities in an effective and coherent manner, through the medium of Irish, in the short/medium term, pending a longer term solution for Gaeltacht service delivery. The LDCs have been asked to prioritise the planning for this work by liaising with both Pobal and Údarás na Gaeltachta on how the work of the LCDP delivery to the Gaeltacht areas can be achieved. It is the Department's objective to have LCDP actions delivered to these areas within the next four weeks.
My Department is in the process of contacting promoters whose LEADER projects are at an advanced stage of development. An interim system, in cooperation with LDCs contiguous to Gaeltacht areas, is being established to facilitate payment of these projects in the short term. In parallel to this and as approved by the European Commission, a bidding/tendering process among LDCs that are currently contracted to deliver the LEADER programme, and thereby part of the accredited system, is being undertaken to determine a more permanent solution to address the long term delivery of Rural Development Programme (LEADER) funding in Gaeltacht areas.