Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 July 2013
166. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the reason approved Leader funding is being withheld for the development of a sports ground (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32392/13]
View answerThe project referred to in the Question was submitted to and was approved by my Department in 2012. Approval was conditional on the appropriate leasing arrangements being put in place and a requirement that the facility be available to the wider community. A claim for payment was submitted on 15 April 2013 and was subsequently selected for inspection as part of the normal risk assessment process that is required under the EU regulatory framework governing the Rural Development Programme. An inspection was carried out on 24 April 2013 and a report was issued to the Local Development Company (LDC), in this case Clare Local Development Company on 16 May 2013. The report indicated that a number of issues had been discovered which rendered the project ineligible under the Programme.
The LDC was advised that an appeal could be submitted; information to address the identified issues was subsequently submitted and the project was re-examined in light of this. A revised report, which concluded that the initial finding of ineligibility remained unchanged, was issued to the LDC on 4 June 2013 .
In line with the appeals procedure in place the LDC lodged a request for a further review to the Regional Inspector on 19 June 2013. Department procedures allow for a 2 month period to conduct this review which is currently on-going . The LDC will be notified of the outcome of the review as soon as possible.
