Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Hayes for his opening statement. Before taking members' questions, I want to ask officials from the Department of Rural and Community Development about LEADER. To the ordinary citizen who tries to deal daily with LEADER, the system seems to be very bureaucratic. Could the officials outline how the process works from the time an organisation first expresses an interest in trying to acquire funding from the Department to the time it is in a position to draw down the funding and how long the process takes?