Axes 3 and 4 (LEADER) of the Rural Development Programme (RDP), for which my Department has responsibility, continues to facilitate access to significant financial resources for rural communities.
As part of a suite of measures to address issues relating to the delivery of the RDP my Department has recently submitted a number of proposals to the European Commission which, if agreed, will allow a number of changes to the operation of the programme. Ireland has chosen to proceed with a number of these changes prior to formal approval from the European Commission including an increase of €10 million to the allocation for the Basic Services measure of the RDP. My Department requested submissions from Local Development Companies on 14 June 2012 and is now processing these submissions. I expect that Local Development Companies will be notified shortly in regard to the determination of allocations from the €10 million sum.