Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to be very clear. There are no secrets in this regard. In 2015, expressions of interest were sought by the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government from groups that wished to develop a local development strategy for the delivery of Leader in each of the 28 designated sub-regional areas of the country. The process was open to any group that wished to develop a local development strategy and be considered as a local action group, LAG, in its particular area.

Applicants successful at this stage of the process were provided with funding and a comprehensive template to assist with developing their local development strategies. In a number of sub-regional areas, including west Cork, expressions of interest and subsequent local development strategies were submitted by more than one interested party.

An independent selection committee, chaired by Dr. Tommy Cooke, professor emeritus, Dublin Institute of Technology, was established for the purposes of selecting Leader local development strategies in each sub-regional area. The committee included representatives from my Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Limerick Institute of Technology, Teagasc, Enterprise Ireland and Fáilte Ireland. There was no ministerial role or input into any of the decisions made by the committee.

Local development strategies for the implementation of Leader in west Cork were submitted by West Cork Development Partnership and by West Cork Local Community Development Committee, LCDC. The strategy submitted by West Cork LCDC was selected by the independent selection committee following a detailed assessment of both submissions.

This decision was appealed by West Cork Development Partnership and reviewed by an independent third party, Mr Chris O’Toole. He concluded in September last that the agreed procedures had been followed by the selection committee and that the appraisal and scoring criteria were also correctly followed. As a result, the original decision of the selection committee remained unchanged. West Cork Development Partnership was advised of the outcome on 22 September 2016.

See this speech in context