Vol. 529 No. 4
134 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will ensure that Trabha Ciarnaí, County Kerry, will be included in the Leader Plus programme in view of unemployment levels above the national average and rural depopulation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3056/01]
In the period to 2006, Leader activity will be delivered through two mechanisms, being the EU Leader+ programme and the national rural development programme. In line with EU Commission guidelines, my Department submitted the draft Leader+ oper ational programme to the Commission in November. The programme is currently being examined and the Commission has a period of five months for consideration before issuing a conclusion. Negotiations are currently in progress with my Department with a view to obtaining approval for the programme at the earliest date possible to clear the way for commencement of Leader activity. The Commission will also give final approval for the national rural development programme.
In parallel, the process for selection of rural development groups to deliver the programmes is under way. An independent consultant is examining the 89 business plan applications with a view to making recommendations to my Department. The assessment will be considered and a report will be made to Government who will make the final decisions on group selection. Having regard to resources currently allocated to Leader, every effort will be made to ensure that rural areas having real need will be covered by the Leader programmes.
As with programmes generally, Leader activity in the period to 2006 will be in the context of the determination of the operation of local development programmes as a whole and account will have to be taken of the conclusions in the report of the task force on integration of local government and local development systems. This requires that overlap in delivery by local programmes is avoided in order to minimise duplication and maximise the allocated resources.
135 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the total budget allocated for Leader II in the Donegal Gaeltacht; the breakdown of this budget between administration and other uses; the projects which received assistance under the Leader II programme; the amounts allocated to each project; the number of applications that were refused funding on the grounds of non-compliance with the criteria; and the amount of the original allocation for Leader II in the Donegal Gaeltacht which remained unspent and was returned to the European Commission. [3129/01]
Meitheal Forbatha na Gaeltachta Teoranta, MFG, is one of the 34 Leader local action groups appointed to deliver the Leader II operational programme in local areas. The group provides service to the Gaeltacht areas including the Donegal Gaeltacht.
