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

I thank the Minister for providing quite an amount of useful information. The Minister of State mentioned a minimum of six months, but I accept that there is a maximum of six months to get the plan in. From the end of June, a maximum of six months gives one up to end of January, after which the applications have to be evaluated and the contracts agreed. As the Minister of State is aware, there are always delays, questions and issues; it is part of the job. Will she accept that it is optimistic to suggest that any of the Leader programmes will be rolled out before the end of 2015, given that there are only five months from the end of this month? In respect of areas where there is more than one expression of interest, when does the Minister of State think, in reality, she will have signed contracts and will be in a position to accept applications for Leader funding? When will the programme be up and running as far as the community is concerned, allowing for the time taken to carry out evaluations, agree contracts and go through the small print and clauses?

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