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Leader Programmes Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 September 2018

Tuesday, 25 September 2018

Questions (72)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

72. 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. [38405/18]

View answer

Oral answers (9 contributions)

Will the Minister give an update on the additional funding that will be made available, or which we hope will be made available, to County Donegal under the LEADER programme? As the Minister knows, on page 42 of the programme for Government there is a commitment to provide additional funding to the LEADER programme. Initially, the programme had €250 million nationally.

How much additional LEADER funding will be provided nationally and what proportion of that will be provided to County Donegal?

LEADER is a multi-annual programme for the period 2014 to 2020 that has a total budget of €250 million over the programming period. Some €220 million has already been allocated to the LEADER sub-regional areas across the country. This allocation has been made for the duration of the programme, rather than on an annual basis, to provide greater flexibility to the local action groups, LAGs, which administer the programme. A further €30 million in funding is available for schemes that will be administered at a national level. This includes the LEADER food initiative and funding to support local action groups that come together to deliver a LEADER project.

The allocation to the local action group in Donegal is €12.9 million over the lifetime of the programme. This allocation covers both project expenditure and the administration costs of the LAG. Significant progress has been made to date in Donegal, which I welcome. The LAG has so far allocated 35% or €3.9 million of its project budget to 92 applicants, leaving a further €6.3 million available to be allocated over the remainder of the programme. I am confident the funding available to LEADER in County Donegal is sufficient to meet the expected demand. However, the position will be kept under review by my Department over the remaining lifetime of the programme.

County Donegal has also benefitted significantly from funding under other rural development programmes operated by my Department, including the town and village renewal scheme, the local improvement scheme, and the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme.

I thank the Minister for his reply but I am exceptionally disappointed by it. He has clarified that he does not see any need or have any intention to allocate additional LEADER funding to County Donegal over the coming years. As I indicated in my initial question, the programme for Government on page 42 commits to increasing LEADER funding. The initial allocation was €250 million nationally and the programme for Government has indicated that this will be increased. However, today in the Dáil the Minister has indicated his opinion that Donegal has enough money to meet demand.

First and foremost, I point out that the allocation given to Donegal under this LEADER programme is more than 30% less than it had in the previous programme. From speaking with LEADER management in the county and those on the various committees, I know the programmes in Donegal would be well able to deal with any additional funding that might be allocated to them. It would be of great benefit to rural development in our county. Will the Minister go back to the drawing board and revisit the programme for Government's commitment to increase funding and specifically to ensure there is increased funding for LEADER provided to Donegal? I give the Minister the utmost assurance that this would be spent well if allocated to the county.

I state again that 35% of available funding, or €3.9 million, has been allocated. I cannot reallocate money until the money there is spent. I will monitor this to see how LEADER programmes do that. The Deputy's question relates to preparation support costs, which amounted to €1.468 million, with administration costs of €19.601 million. Project expenditure is €6.724 million, with total programme expenditure to date of €27.793 million.

I have made all the changes I can to the LEADER programme. Deputy Ó Cuív should look at his own county, which is a disgrace. There are two LEADER programmes there and in one case not one euro has been paid out.

The Minister should respond to Deputy McConalogue.

Not in my side of the county.

I will monitor what is going on with the LEADER companies in Donegal. I compliment the Kerry LEADER programme, which is great at initiatives for town and village and outdoor recreation. It is doing great and if that programme can do it, everybody else can do it as well. To date in Donegal, €3.9 million has been allocated, which is 35% of the total. We hope that this year we will have 40% of the budget approved.

The current LEADER programme has been mismanaged by the Government from the outset as there was much confusion over how it was to be administered and structured. As a result, there were two years of limbo with no funding given out. Only belatedly did the Government agree the structures and allow the LEADER companies to get on with work. As I indicated previously, the Government commits in its programme for Government to increasing those funds. Today, within a programme that was supposed to run from 2014 to 2020, only €27 million has been allocated at this stage, as the Minister stated. That is from a total of €250 million and despite the fact we are past the halfway mark.

I can assure the Minister that Donegal will ensure the money is well spent if further funds are directed towards it. I ask the Minister to look at his overall envelope to ensure additional funding can be allocated to the county. Unfortunately, the Minister has indicated that as it stands, he does not have any intention of increasing that overall amount.

It is amazing that €19 million has been spent on administration of the LEADER programme while project expenditure only amounts to €6 million. The total programme to date has a spend of €27 million. We made 31 changes to simplify the programme and we must comply with European Union regulation and rules. We looked at the schemes and the programme, including ways to make it easier for people to make applications. It should be remembered there are supplementary schemes as well, including the town and village scheme and those relating to outdoor recreation and rural regeneration. There are many other schemes where people can now make an application. I have been told by some people working in LEADER programmes that groups intended making an application but did not do so because they got funding elsewhere. As the Deputy knows, one cannot draw down from two programmes in such cases.

I am monitoring the LEADER programme but I cannot do much more in the running of the scheme. I have simplified the process and made it easier. There were 31 changes to the LEADER programme. There is spending on the administration side. The projects must be approved so that funding can be drawn down as quickly as possible. At that stage, I can review the process and if LEADER programmes are not drawing down funding, I can see if the money should be redirected to other companies that are spending the money.

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