Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State and his officials for presenting the Supplementary Estimate. There was very little detail in the document I received, and the Minister of State has explained the details regarding the Leader programme and the storm damage well. I concur with what the Minister of State said about the Leader programme, particularly regarding small enterprise in rural areas. People across the political spectrum recognise that Leader has been valuable to local communities, particularly disadvantaged areas that would not normally have access to matching funding to get projects under way. While I am not totally au faitwith Leader, I have seen reports that there may be cuts or changes to Leader funding in the next year. Could the Minister of State address this? We want the programme to continue. The Irish model is recognised as a successful model and has been worked very well by the development companies across the State.
I welcome the fact that funding to repair storm damage is being drawn down. Although the local authorities have been very slow to call on it, it seems to be moving. The communities will welcome the funding, particularly the coastal communities that were damaged. It highlights the fact that in our planning and building we must provide for preventing such damage in the future. Although the severe weather was said to have been a once in 100 years event, we have had some turbo-charged severe weather events over the past six to eight years in terms of rainfall and wind speeds. Our building regulations should ensure people build with this in mind.