Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister clarify the following for me? As the Minister stated there were three local action groups, LAGs, allowed in Cork but only one was allowed for Galway. What is the recommended population per local action group that the EU recommends? I do not know the population of Cork but Deputy Michael Collins might know that. If one divides it by three, one arrives at a rough figure of 50,000 people per LAG. My understanding is that the number of people in County Galway, including the islands, goes way over the recommended number of people recommended for a local action group, so that the Galway area should at least have been divided into two local action groups. The Department initially precluded the possibility of the islands being included as a local action group because the local community and development committee, LCDC, structure prescribed that the local action groups had to be within the county boundaries so therefore it would be impossible for Comhar na nOileán Teoranta to make a local action group, LAG, application based on all of the islands at the time. There was a fundamental flaw in the structure of the LAGs, in the way the Department was asking for the LAGs to be designated.

My understanding is that Comhar na nOileán Teoranta then subsequently worked with the LCDC on an application for the Leader programme for the whole of the county as per the guidelines laid down for one LAG. Representatives spoke to officials in the county council, worked with the local community and development committee, LCDC, and joined forces as such with the LCDC and Galway Rural Development, GRD, on the application. Subsequently, FORUM Connemara Limited made a different application, and I have been told that the FORUM Connemara Limited application for half of the county has been successful. The guidelines and the goalposts seem to have changed in the middle of the process. How did that happen? Why was it allowed to happen? Was there oversight? It seems strange that an application from one group of stakeholders which was made for an LAG which covered the whole county, as prescribed by the LCDC, lost out to another applicant. I have nothing against FORUM Connemara Limited whatsoever. I would have preferred if three LAGs could have been maintained in County Galway and that would have been a much more practical way to do it. How could the goalposts have changed halfway through in order that we have a situation where only half the county is covered by an LAG. That seems strange. I know that Comhar na nOileán Teoranta feels very much wronged by the whole process and, even at this late stage, we need to question how this process has been handled.