Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have two points I want to raise with the Minister. One is about the drawing down of the rural regeneration and development fund. It is a fund that is being ramped up and will transform rural Ireland. I know today's meeting is focused on local authorities and the delivery of funding. My local authority in Roscommon is one of the county councils that have been quite successful in securing and drawing down funding. I will give a practical example of some of the challenges on the ground. Roscommon County Council sought and secured funding from the Department of Social Protection for a project in Monksland that requires the acquiring of land owned by the council for which it has given a licence out to. This land subsequently fell under control of NAMA, however, and the council cannot get a decision to proceed with the project from NAMA. When one arm of the State has capital funding from which to draw down and another arm of the State is dragging its heels in making a decision, that is unsustainable and should not be happening. Organisations such as NAMA should be giving priority to requests relating to capital drawdowns.

The final point I want to raise with the Minister is on the LEADER funding in County Galway and I discussed it with her on our way into this morning's meeting. It received an allocation of €9 million for the next five years, which is at the lower end of the per capitapayment allocations around the country. Many people in County Galway are asking why they have been left short compared to the allocation of other counties. We have seen in County Roscommon the transformative impact LEADER has had in our county and this is in contrast with the impact it is having in Galway due to the level of funding available there. I refer, finally, to a matter this committee has considered and on which it has made recommendations to the Minister. We have recommended there should be a specific LEADER programme for the island communities, which would be administered separately rather than on a county basis. I ask the Minister to comment on those issues.