Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

No, it is not. If the money was in place there would be no difficulty. The money is not in the programme to which the European Commission allocated the money, as the Deputy knows. If it was in place, we would not be having this conversation. I will be visiting the LEADER tent at the ploughing championships. I have been lobbied on this issue by the Deputy and other Members and by LEADER people around the country. I am setting out an honest appraisal of where we are at. I am telling the Deputy exactly what I, with my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Fishers and Food, am trying to do to achieve an outcome. We will try to make some progress during the next few weeks. I am disappointed we have not made further progress to date.

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