Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In respect of Mr. Ludlow's point about the massive EU funds that are available, I accept his point that Meath Leader Partnership does not have a mechanism now to be able to spend time as part of its daily work to apply for them. Could he outline the funds he is talking about? Is no other arm or agency of the State applying for these funds? Mr. Ludlow says we are missing out these nationally. Do Departments not have a responsibility to apply for these funds as well? He mentioned the relaxation of the export criteria for Enterprise Ireland. How does he see this manifesting itself in practice?

I welcome all those presenting today and thank them for their presentations. As a Deputy for Kildare South, I have a particular interest in the Kildare Leader Partnership presentation. I concur with what Mr. Larkin said about the impact of the reduced funding under this programme, how disappointing it is and how it restricts what we able to do in Kildare. Mr. Larkin has touched on the perception of affluence in our county. Sometimes, we are referred to as "K4" instead of "D4". This is a huge challenge in our county. We have a few big headline employers like Intel, Pfizer and Kerry Group, and we are delighted to have them, but we have pockets of serious deprivation, many of which are in my constituency. If the deprivation scale was the reason for doling out this State funding, I do not see how there can be any justification for a county with 220,000 people getting a lower allocation than County Leitrim, which has about 35,000 people. This is what we are talking about in terms of funding.

It is stark and it will have to be addressed in the mid-term review. That is not to take anything away from Leitrim.

The divide between population based in urban and rural areas is quite stark. The committee is trying to remain focused on practical recommendations on what it takes to sustain a viable rural community. From the briefings, there is a good focus on CEDRA, the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas. Do the delegations agree that it is the blueprint and it is just a matter of implementing it or are we missing something else which needs to be part of the plan?

Up to 40% of Kildare's population travelling outside of the county for work is not sustainable unless we accept we are happy to be a commuter county. I do not believe anybody would be. What do we need to do to maintain jobs in rural areas, whether it is Kildare, Monaghan, Meath or Fingal? I know issues such as broadband, renewable energy and rural transport are factors.

We cannot presume that keeping people in rural areas will automatically save all the services. An Post and the Irish Postmasters Union attended the committee last week. We have to educate people on the need to use local services to maintain them. Have the delegations views on the role Leader could play in that regard?

The formation of the local community development committees, LCDCs, came in under the reform of local government. The roles of the local authorities and Leader groups are intertwined, probably more so than ever. There is a network of local authority services across the country. We have taken water services and some planning functions from them. Local authorities have an important role to play. They need to be reformed and are doing more with less. How do the Leader companies see the integration with the local authorities? How can Leader companies and local authorities operate better together?