Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2018
494. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the additional funding that will be made available to County Donegal under the Leader programme; when the funding will be made available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28821/18]
View answerLEADER is a multi-annual programme for the period 2014-2020 which has a total budget of €250 million over the programming period. The programme is administered by Local Action Groups (LAGs) which deliver funding in accordance with Local Development Strategies that have been agreed for each LEADER sub-regional area.
€220 million of the available funding has already been allocated to the 28 LEADER sub-regional areas throughout the country. The allocation for each sub-regional area is provided for the duration of the programme rather than on an annual basis. This provides greater flexibility to the LAGs in managing their resources.
The allocation to the Local Action Group in Donegal is €12.9 million over the lifetime of the programme.
Each LAG is responsible for deciding how their allocation is distributed to LEADER projects over the duration of the programme, based on the objectives in their Local Development Strategies.
In addition to the €220 million which has been allocated to the LAGs, a further €30 million in funding is available for schemes which will be administered at a national level. This includes the LEADER Food Initiative which I recently launched with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and funding to support LAGs that come together to cooperatively deliver a LEADER project.
