Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Fleming. As he is probably aware, the European Union in its budgetary programme for the next number of years has reduced the amount which countries such as Ireland receive under this heading. This is alongside the various changes happening in farming and the Common Agricultural Policy. I absolutely accept what Deputy Fleming said, that Leader has been an enormously important force in rural Ireland. Even in rural north County Dublin, part of which I represent, it has been a huge force for positive economic and social good. One of the consequences of the change, which will be very positive for rural Ireland, is the new programme being rolled out will be heavily concentrated not simply on what has been done in the past but on creating rural employment and rural enterprise. This will continue.

The one area which I understand has been reviewed is that in some Leader programmes, and I stress some Leader programmes, the level of administration costs was very high. In some cases it was more than one quarter of the total cost. As we look forward to the forthcoming budget the Government will look at how to support these rural initiatives and rural enterprise. We have already given a significant indicative allocation to, for instance, the development of an IDA presence throughout the country in regional enterprise development programmes. As these programmes develop, with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, I am hopeful and confident they will link in with the existing Leader network. I and the Minister of State, Deputy Humphreys, have had the privilege of visiting many of these schemes in various parts of rural Ireland, and what we are doing, which is complimentary and parallel, is to expand community employment. In recent years we have created the Tús scheme, which is very popular particularly in rural Ireland with regard to initiatives on the environment, tourism and beautifying our villages and towns.

There has been a reduction in the EU allocation for Ireland under this heading, but the Government has recently committed to a regional development and industrial programme. We now have IDA officials based in the regions for the first time in a long time, to look for new businesses, new initiatives and foreign direct investment to come to the regions. I hope that as we go forward ConnectIreland will work closely with Leader and with the new arrangements for the Leader companies.

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