Johnny Brady
Ceist:74 Mr. J. Brady asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the uptake under the Leader programme in terms of the number of jobs created and quality of the projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27765/98]
Written Answers. - Leader Programme.
On the basis of indicative figures supplied to my Department by the approved groups, the situation at 30 June 1998 is that nearly 5,000 jobs have been created under the Leader II programme. The groups also report that over 4,000 jobs have been maintained. My Department is currently reviewing this situation and is making arrangements to verify the validity of the data and ensure consistency in the reporting arrangements.
In accordance with the bottom-up philosophy of the Leader II programme, groups have the decision making authority with regard to project selection and funding.
To date, the groups have reported that funding has been committed to almost 6,000 individual projects covering a wide range of activities.