Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am glad that the Minister is to make the announcement next week. Many people in the Leader programme are very anxious that it gets up and running. Some Leader groups got funding from the Minister on a temporary basis to keep them afloat between January and June of this year. Some of them will be approved for the Leader programme, but they will find themselves in difficulty in paying their staff and in keeping their programmes going. Will the Minister make funding available for the period between the making of the application and the approval of such an application by the Department?

There is uncertainty about jobs in many of these companies. The companies will not be able to pay the staff unless they get temporary funding from the Minister. I am glad that the Minister is going ahead with the programme as it is very important for rural Ireland. The delay has been too long, but I am glad to see that the situation in Cavan and Monaghan has been resolved.

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