John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

The Minister's mention of LEADER is very welcome. LEADER has been a huge asset to a lot of communities. The bureaucracy around it is not a matter for us or the Department but involves collaboration with Europe. Certainly, if we can make that process easier, we will see an earlier drawdown of those funds. I know from everybody working on the CAP negotiations that it is a priority to get a separate allocation for the next round, so I appreciate that.