Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

All of us share the Minister's view that public money has to be put to proper use to maximise the benefit for the people on behalf of whom we work. I know that some communities which were thinking of submitting applications under this programme, and had done some preparatory work to that end, were discouraged by the required level of what they regarded as bureaucracy. The Minister and the Department need to transmit the message that as a result of the streamlining of the requirements, the hurdles that have to be crossed are not as demanding as they were initially. We want to ensure good community groups are encouraged to apply. We want the money to be put to the best possible use. As I have said to the Minister, our rural communities have benefitted from the LEADER programme for decades now. My constituency was fortunate enough to have one of the first pilot projects in the country in 1991. We want to see engagement from as many community groups as possible. We want to ensure the maximum drawdown of funding. We need to send out a message that as a result of the streamlining I have mentioned, this programme is not as bureaucratic as it was in the past.

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