Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. In respect of his own county of Cavan, €1,519,327 has been approved to date and payments of €336,021 have been made. The Deputy is correct with regard to bureaucracy. We made 32 changes to the LEADER programme to try to make it easier for people to make applications. Deputy Smith, as a long-standing Member of the House, will know from previous LEADER programmes that they take a while to ramp up. More and more approvals are coming in and approvals are being made. At the point, the work has to be done and the funding is then drawn down. I am confident the €250 million will be drawn down in the lifetime of the programme.

As the years move on, more funding will be necessary, more applications will be completed and more funding will be drawn down. I am happier now than I was because there has been a major increase in the number of approvals. There are now 1,450 projects approved under the LEADER programme to the value of €46.3 million. The programme is beginning to ramp up in every county. To be fair to the LEADER companies, in the early stages of a programme they have meet and talk to groups and individuals who are bringing projects forward. They have to work with them and explain what is happening. These groups and individuals then submit an application and once approval has been given, the drawdown occurs. That is why the process is slow at the moment, but I have no doubt the €250 million to which the Deputy referred will be spent.

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