Mr. J.P. Mulherin:

The Deputy raised three broad issues relating to Leader. The first one concerned the delivery of the programme. As the Deputy will be aware, the programme takes some time to get up and running. A similar situation would arise across other EU member states. Notwithstanding that, we recognise that there were issues with the delivery of the programme in terms of programme implementation and administration. As a result of that, a forum with all the stakeholders, including local development companies and the chairs of the local action groups, was held in May 2017 where we discussed the issues impacting on the programme and engaged with the different groups to come up with solutions to address those problems. As a result of that, we developed 31 actions to simplify and improve the delivery of the programme. Those actions cut across every aspect of the delivery of the programme. They involve fairly fundamental changes to how the programme is delivered. I would be happy to go through them with the Deputy at any stage. They are very significant changes. At this stage, we are beginning to see the impact of those changes. It will take some more time because it takes time for a project from an initial stage through to approval and completion. The figures that are approved right now show that for the first six months of the year, fewer than 45 projects were approved by Leader local action groups for less than €1 million. Right now, we are approaching the 500 mark so that is a tenfold increase in the second half of the year. All the indications from the local action groups are that this will increase significantly in the coming months so we are fairly confident that with the changes that have been made and the work that has been done at local level, the amount of funding allocated under Leader will increase substantially. We would certainly like the message to go out to encourage local communities and businesses to apply for Leader because the changes have been made and it will be of real benefit to different areas in rural Ireland. If the Deputy wishes to discuss the actions, I would be happy to do so.

The second point concerned broadband. As the Deputy will be aware, a strategy is developed for each local action group area. The strategy is developed under a set number of themes that have been developed for Leader. One of the themes relates to broadband. Each of the local action groups have had an opportunity to identify areas where they could use Leader funding to support broadband. Part of the conditions attached to that is that it would synchronise with and support what is being done under the national broadband plan. There have not been many broadband projects but my colleagues in a separate unit in the Department are facilitating part of the broadband roll out. They have met with a number of local development companies to discuss and explore where Leader could add to the delivery of that broadband. They have taken the feedback from those local development companies and I expect we will have an event with all the Leader local action groups in early 2018 to identify where Leader can add value and explore the opportunities for Leader to support the roll-out of broadband.

The third point related to the delivery of Leader in west Cork. As the Deputy will be aware, an independent selection process was used to decide who was going to deliver and who was going to be the local action group in west Cork. An independent selection committee chose the successful local action group based on the quality of the strategy that was submitted. Two strategies of a very high standard were submitted in west Cork but the one that scored the highest was ultimately chosen by the independent selection committee.