Mr. Tomás Beades:

On the issue with the town teams and where everything sits, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív's suggestion, a structure as to who is funding what, is what we need. Everybody is living in a vacuum. May was mentioned regarding the timeline as to when people will be able to draw down funding. This is how it looks. It is crazy that the first project approved under the Leader programme 2014 to 2020 is in 2017. While good joined-up thinking and good strategies are happening in some counties, it is not enough. An overarching structure must be put in place whereby everybody is talking to everybody and everything is moving forward. Playgrounds can be funded under five different funds. Who funds playgrounds and where should people go? These are major issues.

In Roscommon, six town teams have been established. Is it for Roscommon County Council or for Leader to fund projects under the town teams? We are working to this. We want Leader to be the bottom-up village programme and to have a bottom-up approach.