Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and colleagues for allowing me to go first. The rural development plan must be shown to include completely new funding and not simply represent the rehashing of old budgets. The budget for the 2015 scheme to help rural villages was €6 million a year, but this did nothing to replace the funding lost under the Leader programme which the former Minister, Phil Hogan, destroyed. Information provided to me in reply to a parliamentary question suggests that Leader funding has been cut dramatically for the period 2014 to 2020. There has not been a bob for the last two years. The funding has been cut by 43% which means that towns and villages in rural areas will lose services relating to child care, rural transport and support for start-up businesses. Whereas €376 million was allocated under the programme for the period 2007 to 2013, the new programme to cover the period 2014 to 2020 has an allocation of only €220 million. As such, we are playing with figures. It is a cut of €156 million.

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