Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want the Leader groups to continue talking to us, telling us about the challenges and successes they have. I thank the witnesses for outlining some of them today. There was a real and important role for local authorities in this new Leader programme. We had transnational projects in which they could have played a role, ensuring that models of best practice in projects were duplicated and we were not reinventing the wheel all the time. It would have ensured that the best practice could have been transferred throughout the country and Europe. There was also the potential for an advisory role. There was not a role for having control over how Leader programmes are run. I will certainly watch this very closely and I hope that even with the restrictions in the Leader programmes there can be some really good work. I hope people will not have to try doing it with their hands tied behind their back. The questions concern specific bureaucracy and how the witnesses think we can address issues like the cap on Leader funding.

I cannot leave without saying the following. We are in an area in Erris in Mayo that was left without a Leader programme for many years. We are one of the most deprived areas in the country and we were left without that because of a decision made by the Government before the last one. It decided to amalgamate all the companies within the Gaeltacht under Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta Teo. We suffered because of those governance mistakes and were left without any Leader funding. That is unforgivable and must not be let happen again. We cannot catch up.

It is no longer acceptable for rural Ireland to be left with the crumbs from the table. We want what we deserve. We do not want EU funding targeted to areas where there is not deprivation and need - as has happened in respect of some of these projects - but rather to the areas that have been neglected and left behind. I will work with the committee and all stakeholders to ensure that this happens. We will not be fobbed off.