Ms Mary Hurley:

There is no cut in the funding. The funding is on a programme basis, as opposed to an annual basis. Since the previous LEADER programme, we have other funding streams for rural development. For instance, the RRDF is a €1 billion fund. LEADER is €250 million this time around, as it was last time around, but it has improved significantly the amount of funding over the year.

To give the Deputy the rural funding piece, it was €87 million in 2018 and €168 million in 2022. One of the things we try to do with the rural funding, including LEADER which is a fantastic programme, is that there is the town and village scheme, CLÁR and various options and project measures people can apply for across the board. It is maximising the rural economy.