Mr. Terry Keenan:

I will deal with the questions about why we want to go on our own rather than use the LCDC-led structure of the county councils, the most common structure across the country. Independent evaluations of the Leader programme were carried out by RuDi in 2009 and Metis in 2010 and they recommended that in states such as Ireland partnerships should move from having medium to high autonomy. They stated the more autonomous LAGs showed better results in awakening dormant skills and potential, strategic thinking and monitoring the development of a rural area in a structured way. They stated autonomy, or the decision-making power of a local action group, should be further developed and that granting decision-making power made sense if the LAG was willing to exert it, capable of mastering it and allowed to do so by the managing authority and the programme administrator. A Eurobarometer study in 2012 of citizens' attitudes towards local government found that the level of trust was lowest in Ireland and Greece, in both of which authority was very centralised, according to the ESPON 2006 programme.