Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her opening statement. I have a quick question on programme A which includes the LEADER programme. I know from my engagement with a number of LEADER companies that the funding they received for the transitional period, which was to cover 2021 and 2022, has run out and we are only at the start of 2022. Would the Minister consider engaging with the LEADER companies across the State to see where they are at with funding? There has been a huge emphasis on Our Rural Future in the context of funding for LEADER and the importance of it in all of our communities. Obviously the funding of €250 million is standstill funding but when we takes out the transitional period, we are looking at an amount of €180 million across five years which is a fairly long time. I urge the Minister to engage with her own local LEADER companies, although I am sure she probably does that anyway because there is an issue whereby LEADER companies literally have no funding left and we are only at the start of February. Will the Minister engage with her local LEADER company on that? I am concerned that we will have only €180 million to cover the five-year period from 2023 to 2027. In a lot of places, including Roscommon, LEADER is growing at a powerful rate and companies want to do more but they are being stymied because we are at a standstill in the context of funding. There will be problems this year in particular because the transitional funding has run out in a lot of cases.