The following motion was moved by Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív on Wednesday, 4 June 2014:That Dáil Éireann: notes:— the central role local development companies play in providing local services across Ireland, including the delivery of the Leader programme and social inclusion programmes; — that local integrated development companies also provide supports across a wide range of areas such as rural transport, child care, rural recreation and youth development and administer schemes such as the rural social scheme and the Tús scheme; — that approximately 1,900 people are directly employed in the sector, thousands of positions are supported by the schemes involved and some €50 million is due to be spent on the programmes in 2014; and — that local and community development programmes have a central part in developing and supporting local enterprise and sustaining jobs;further notes the Government’s plans to align local and community development programmes within local authorities from 1 July with new programmes due to begin in 2015; condemns the:— Government’s cynical failure to engage in real consultation with the integrated community companies; and — erosion of local democratic structures in the Government’s local government reform; andcalls on the Government to:— fully review the approach to the delivery of community services and programmes by these companies; — protect funding for Leader programmes through 50:50 co-financing; — ensure companies that are tendering for Leader funding under the new local authority structure would be obliged to have partnership structures on their boards and their headquarters in the area of the local authority in question to ensure community ethos and local representation are at the heart of the delivery of programmes into the future; and — ensure these companies are used as a one-stop-shop to deliver rural services, including rural transport and community schemes, and continue to play a central part in sustaining the fabric of communities across Ireland. Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:" - welcomes the overarching vision of Putting People First - Action Programme for Effective Local Government of a local government system leading economic, social and community development, delivering efficient and good value services, and representing citizens and local communities effectively and accountably; - notes that following the publication in Putting People First of recommendations for enhanced alignment between local government and local development an alignment working group, including representatives of the Irish Local Development Network, was established to assist and advise on implementation; - welcomes the structure of the local community development committees being established under the reform programme, which will facilitate full and comprehensive representation of all actors, including community interests, and whose membership will be decided in a fully transparent, representative and democratic way; - recognises the important role of local development companies as part of these reformed arrangements, including continued implementation roles in programmes and the provision of supports across a range of areas; - welcomes the Government’s decision to allocate 7% of the rural development programme, RDP, to the Leader element, 2% over the minimum required by the relevant EU regulation, resulting in an overall programme complement of €235 million for the 2014-2020 period; this, coupled with delivery of two Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine artisan food schemes using the Leader approach, results in a full Leader complement for the 2014-2020 period of some €250 million; - notes that any entity that expresses an interest in delivering a RDP local development strategy using the Leader approach must meet the requirements of the EU regulatory framework, including that the entity should be a partnership of public and private local socioeconomic interests where no single interest group represents more than 49% of the voting rights at decision making level; - recognises that local and community development programmes continue to play an important part in national social and economic recovery, including in the provision of valuable social services, direct and indirect supports for enterprise development, and employment creation; and - reaffirms the continued partnership between community representatives, local authorities, local development bodies and statutory partners in ensuring effective co-ordination and targeting of services and avoidance of overlap and duplication, placing services before structures.”(Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government)

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