Mr. William Parnell:

Up to recently, we did not have certainty around whether that transitional period would be one year or two years. There was a difference of opinion and some negotiation on that between the European Commission and the European Parliament. A draft transitional regulation was published in the last couple of weeks which indicates very clearly that the next EU framework will not commence until 2023. This means there will be a two-year transitional period. It appears also that funding will be available from the Commission for that transitional period. We do not know the amount of funding yet because the overall EU budget still has to be agreed. I understand it is being delayed by a couple of member states. We do not have certainty on the amount of funding which will come from the European Commission to support the CAP and the LEADER programme specifically but the Minister is nonetheless committed to providing funding in 2021. We will review the situation to identify what funding might be available for 2022. The Minister has also made the point in response to questions in the Dáil that LEADER needs to be looked at in a multi-annual context. It is not just about funding for 2021. If we provide an allocation to the local action groups for 2021, it will be 2022 or 2023 by the time those projects are identified and start to be delivered.

The Minister has spoken about needing to look at the LEADER programme in that multi-annual frame. I think the answer to the question is that funding will be provided between now and the start of the next LEADER programme, which will be fully funded by the EU within the new framework.