Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is the nub of my question. We will get there in the end but these processes always take longer than anticipated and Ministers tend to suggest overly optimistic timescales. In light of what happened with SICAP, as well as my own experience, I believe the timescale suggested by the Minister of State is totally unrealistic. How much money has been put aside for Leader expenditure under the new programme this year? If, as I suspect, it becomes obvious that she will not spend the money under the programme this year, will she arrange for the money to be spent in rural areas under other programmes this year? Otherwise, rural areas will lose out on this money.

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