Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Every Deputy in the House would agree that the Leader programme has been one of the most successful rural development initiatives since its introduction many years ago. It has played a major part in sustaining rural communities. There are 36 local development companies contracted on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to deliver the rural development programme. These groups are the principal decision makers in allocating Leader funding, and they are made up of community members who do an excellent job right across the country. This is an example of the bottom-up approach and those involved can rightly take pride in what they have achieved over the years.

Countries across Europe look at Ireland and the model we have implemented as the best example of how Leader funding can be distributed, but unfortunately the Minister and his Government are determined to change this and not for the better. In the Minister's words, he wants to improve "alignment" but this translates into simply taking decision-making powers away from Leader companies. This is not putting people first and is rather causing much disharmony and distrust across communities. The Irish Local Development Network, ILDN, has already left the alignment working group because of a breakdown in trust and the opinion that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is not addressing the group's concerns. The Minister seems to be determined to fix something that in my opinion, and that of people in many communities the length and breadth of the country, is not broken. It is nothing short of a money grab for cash-strapped local authorities. Is the Tánaiste aware of the reservations about the realignment and does he agree it will have a detrimental impact on the Leader companies and how funding is allocated?

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