Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What I am saying today is what I have repeated on numerous occasions. The rural development programme is a scheme of €4 billion, with €2.19 billion in EU funding and the balance funded by the Exchequer. We are on target to draw down all of the EU funding and to pay all of the matching funds required to draw down that funding. GLAS is the flagship scheme in the rural development programme. More than 50,000 farmers are contractually committed for five years and we will honour all of them. We are on target to draw down all of the funding available from Europe under the rural development programme.

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