Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

An initial allocation of €20 million is being made available for the delivery of the programme and 75%, or €15 million, of the funding is being allocated to new project activity, with the remaining 25% or €5 million available for administration and project animation costs. The funding will be distributed between the local action groups, LAGs, on a pro ratabasis commensurate with the allocations made at the start of the 2014-2020 LEADER programme. It is important to recognise that LEADER is a multi-annual programme and that the payments in respect of projects which are approved in any given year are generally not drawn down until subsequent years, depending on the nature and scale of the projects concerned. In that context, costs related to projects under the transitional programme are likely to be relatively low in 2021, but the overall costs will be met from the provision in my Department's Vote in 2022 and 2023, as necessary.

I wanted to make sure there would be no gap between one programme and the next. We have the transition programme and it is important that the LEADER companies will be able to continue and finish off their projects.

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