Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct. I have seen a number of grant aid requests from programmes in various counties. In Carlow, for example, requests relating to a number of community halls have come through. In Waterford, funding has been requested for food hubs, which will be long lasting and will create jobs. These will be pilot schemes. Like the Deputy, I would not like to see Leader companies just looking for a quick fix of money. We must be fair, however, and give larger projects that have grant aid approved a bit of time to be developed, built and rolled out.

The overall policy of the Leader programme is to try to provide funding to communities and ensure it is used within them. My interest and that of the Deputy is to ensure that Leader projects are operating and available to people. Some programme providers have told me that they are now going out to talk to people, advise them on what is available and invite their ideas. I agree that it is always nice for Leader, town and village or other schemes to leave a legacy, so we do not want there to only be smaller schemes that do not leave any legacy. That is a matter for the Leader companies.

We must be patient, given the number of projects that are being approved. Some of them will take time. A number of counties emphasise different programmes. I want to see the funding being spent.