Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy knows, the LEADER programme is a multi-annual funding programme. It is cofinanced by the European Commission under the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. The current LEADER programme is operational across the country as we speak, with total funding of €180 million allocated across local action groups to cover the period 2023 to 2027.

When considering LEADER allocations for the post-2027 period, as the Deputy has discussed, the development of the post-2027 CAP and the new regional and national partnership plans is a matter of significant importance to my Department. Ireland has advocated and will continue to advocate for a well-funded and ringfenced EU funding programme that supports farm resilience, environmental ambition and rural development measures such as the LEADER programme.

Since its inception in 1991, the programme has empowered bottom-up, community-led rural development in rural communities across Ireland. It has supported thousands of local projects, revitalised rural communities and supported thousands of jobs and important services across Ireland. It is hugely important and as Minister, I am committed to ensuring that the LEADER programme remains a core element of any new CAP framework.

To facilitate the current negotiation process for the post-2027 period, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has established a CAP consultative committee, which includes representation from my Department. As part of this committee, my Department continues to advocate for the LEADER programme to remain a core intervention of the new CAP post 2027. I continue to work with Government colleagues, the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, to ensure the LEADER programme is well funded into the future and remains a key part of the next MFF. I acknowledge the support of the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to date with regard to our work. I will be travelling to the European Parliament in November to continue to lobby and work with our colleagues in the European Parliament on the importance of LEADER in the next MFF.

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