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

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. Local and community development programmes constitute a major issue for rural Ireland. There is concern among many such companies across the spectrum regarding the realignment process. It goes back nearly 25 years to when the integrated development companies and, later, the Leader companies were being set up. Suspicions were raised at the time by local authorities with the Department of the Environment and since then local councils have been trying to get local development companies under their wings. The proposal is a retrograde step because local development companies have done excellent work across the country. This is borne out by the amount of work they have done in rural communities, including the rural community I serve. The companies have established a standard of excellence in the services they provide in my area, including Duhollow and Ballyhoura, which is second to none. They deal with a raft of issues.

The debate on the realignment process has been going on since the end of 2012. I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, has left the Chamber because I wanted to put some points clearly to him. Will he ensure that the criteria for selection of local action groups to develop local strategic plans will be drawn up so that existing Leader groups are neither disadvantaged, constrained nor prevented from winning any Leader tendering or selection process? That is the fundamental issue.

Will existing Leader groups that have operated successfully as local action groups for the past 20 or 25 years be supported to draw up their community-based local strategy plans for Leader and submit them to the Department for approval? Will they be allowed to implement and administer the delivery of all aspects of those plans? That question is fundamental to this debate.

Every Deputy knows at first hand the work undertaken by Leader companies. We can look back to the 1960s with the start of urbanisation in Irish society, but the Leader companies came from the EU and adopted a bottom-up approach which was applauded across the country. That approach has also been praised across the continent as being the best model to deliver funding. Ireland has now decided, however, that local development programmes will be centralised and realigned within local authorities. Under the proposed new system, parts of Cork and Kerry could not be realigned under any local authorities. The same applies to Ballyhoura which will be covering Cork and Limerick.

European funding of Leader programmes has been of great benefit to communities across the country, with regard to enterprise, job protection and community-based facilities and groups. People working in Leader companies go out at night to meet local community representatives and discuss plans with them. With the greatest respect to local authorities, I cannot see their staff doing the donkey work that Leader staff have been doing over the years. It is as if there are no boundaries within Leader companies when they examine issues and try to develop projects for funding. They deliver such projects extremely well.

The Minister should examine the proposed plans. Earlier in the debate we were told of what has happened to local representation with people moving eastwards, including in County Cork. There is a centralisation process under way, whether or not it is intentional. The abolition of town councils and the reduction of seats in Cavan, north Cork, west Cork and parts of Kerry and Clare are putting those people last because their representation has been reduced.

We must be serious about this because I do not think the realignment will achieve anything. There is a constant drive towards centralisation by policy-makers and departmental staff. We centralised the medical card applications and made an utter mess of them. We also centralised the student support grant scheme and it took nearly two years to correct it. The best possible way to organise the work of such action groups is to have them locally based. They are challenged daily on the work they are doing. People may ask if policies are correct but local people are on the boards, so they know what is best for their communities. Those people are working on a voluntary basis and are best placed to make decisions on local projects.

Some parts of the Duhallow region are 45 miles from county hall. My fear is that if such programmes are centralised those at the periphery will be looked after last. Local Leader groups and other community action groups can look after people's needs.

Issues arose recently about the rural transport scheme but the Department is now rowing back on it somewhat, saying that a mistake was made. This is particularly so in County Cork which is a giant administrative area. If this realignment of development programmes goes ahead, within four or five years or even less, people will realise the damage that was done. Leader is working and the European Court of Auditors has said it is a great scheme. Many new EU accession countries are looking at Ireland as the best model for delivering Leader funding, but in our wisdom we have decided to realign it under the aegis of local authorities.

In 1988 and 1989, when this first came into vogue, it was to be under the local authorities and was to be a ground-up approach. I appeal to the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who is here on behalf of the Department. In the response she is to give I would like her to address those issues, because they are fundamental to how we progress. Questions have been asked about a raft of issues, and the Leader funding approach has been best practice. It has been an outstanding advocate for small, rural communities. I am not just talking about my area. In recent months I had reason to travel around the country and met people in Mayo, Cavan and Sligo. I saw communities that were almost dead, had lost the post office and the pub, but where a community hall had been built.

It has also happened in my area. The Department closed some schools due to insufficient numbers, realignment or centralisation. In my area, Glosh, some schools were closed 40 years ago. They have gone in there and are revitalising the community by putting in a fundamental, community-based structure. I appeal to the Minister to revoke these points. Some three or four weeks ago I raised it on Leaders' Questions and there was a discussion about whether the Leader network was negotiating with the Department. The Department knows the Leader companies' position on this and need not wait for any further submissions. The Department knows they are at loggerheads. It is time to step back with cool heads and ensure we do not lose what has been so vital to rural communities in the past 25 years.

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