Mr. Justin Larkin:

It is important to look at Leader and where it came from. The idea behind Leader was always about looking at a local area and responding to its needs. While Kildare shares similarities with Meath and Monaghan, there are aspects of and issues in the county that are unique to us. There will be similarities with regard to the programme in general but there can often be differences because local issues differ. The benefit of Leader has always been the flexibility to do that and allow a local development company to respond to local need. We would have particular concerns in County Kildare about how the funding for the new programme was distributed. Typically, in terms of Leader+ and the last rural development programme, you presented your case through your area. Needs were identified for the area and how they were to be addressed. Based on the quality of that information and approach, an allocation was awarded. County Kildare was among the top five allocations in respect of Leader+. Under the last rural development programme, we were in the top ten.

However, it was decided to use a different approach in respect of the current programme and allocations were predetermined. County Kildare ended up getting 50% less funding for the new Leader programme but we still have the same issues that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, the mechanism used to allocate funding did not benefit the county. It is important to say that the county is often perceived as a rich county that has no issues but the reality is that 10% of the population of the county live in either disadvantaged or very disadvantaged small areas. That is spread across the county. It is not just locations in rural areas like Athy or the south and north west of the county. It also applies to Naas, Maynooth, Celbridge and Leixlip. In preparing our strategy as a local development company, we have tried to devise unique responses to those unique issues.