Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The European Court of Auditors published a special report on rural development programming yesterday and it found that the process is very complex and vague and that not enough emphasis is being placed on achieving results. Is that not damning proof that there is no rural proofing of any legislation that has been passed? There has been great spin about rural development, massive reports have been published and there have been great expectations. However, no tangible results have been achieved. The report published yesterday is damning. Anyone living in rural Ireland or representing a rural constituency knows that. The programming is all aspirational in nature. We saw it with the Leader programme and the rural development programme. They have all been hijacked and abandoned. Funding is not getting to where it needs to go, namely, to the ordinary families, community groups and projects.

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