Mr. J.P. Mulherin:

I am responsible for managing the Leader programme. This comes under Ireland's rural development programme, which is part of Pillar 2 of the CAP. The funding for that and the rest of CAP is set for the period until 2020. Discussions are only beginning at this stage as regards how the CAP will operate subsequent to 2020. There will be several facets to that, including discussions on the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, which will set the overall budget for what is available for CAP. Then there will be individual discussions on the different parts of it, including direct payments and the rural development programme, both of which are managed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. There will be a consultation process as part of that. We have regular engagement with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on a variety of matters, particularly on Leader, as well as in other areas which come under the action plan.

The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, has commenced a consultation process on the CAP. It is early days and it will be over the next several years that matters will be finalised. We will continue to engage with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and other Departments that will have an impact on it.