Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are happy to do that. We will see what we can do with the relevant Minister. I think the Minister for Finance has responsibility for NAMA.

The LEADER funding issue has been raised with me. I wish to put on the record that the funding allocations for 2023 to 2027, when taken together with the allocations under the 2021 to 2022 transition programme, show that all LEADER areas have an increased allocation of core programme funding compared to the core programme funding allocated for the corresponding seven-year period of 2014 to 2020. We had the transition funding of €70 million and now, up to 2027, there is a further funding of €180 million, which brings the amount up to €250 million. We have distributed it in such a way that everybody has received an increase.

The sub-regional area of County Galway has been allocated €9 million for the 2023 to 2027 period. When taken in conjunction with the transitional funding of €3.6 million Galway has got, that gives a total LEADER programme allocation of €12.6 million for the period 2021 to 2027. For the corresponding previous programme, from 2014 to 2020, it had core programme funding of €12.2 million, so it has gone up by approximately €437,000 which is an increase of 3.55%. Funding levels are based on a minimum allocation of €3 million to each sub-regional area, with the remaining funding distributed based on population and level of deprivation in the area. This ensures funding is targeted at the areas most in need of LEADER support. To be fair, it is a very transparent system and that is the way funding has been allocated. Every LEADER company got an increase.

Regarding the offshore islands, certain stakeholder groups have expressed a preference that the new LEADER programme would include a dedicated lag for island communities-----