I can confirm that in 2017, my Department received a total of €3,119,602.27 in EU co-funding in respect of claims submitted to the European Commission for LEADER related expenditure.
The 2014 -2020 LEADER Programme is co-funded at a rate of 62.8% by the EU under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
The amounts drawn down cover the period from April 2016 to June 2017 and are, in the main, related to administration costs of the Local Action Groups, LAGs, and costs associated with their engagement with communities to generate projects, together with expenditure incurred on projects.
In 2017, under the Programme for Peace and Reconciliation, Peace IV, no funding was received from the European Commission, as the programme was only commencing. However, I can confirm that in 2017, a total of €958,780 was channelled through the Department to the Special EU Programmes Body, SEUPB, for programme activity.