Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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17. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the reason only 0.3% of funding under the Leader programme to 31 December 2017 has been allocated, his views on whether allocation methods are failing and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19082/18]

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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We have just finished talking about RAPID. I will tell the Minister one thing. The Leader scheme is far from rapid because there is nothing rapid about the pace at which people around the country are getting the money. It started in 2014. It is now May 2018 and in my county of Leitrim, not one community project and not one person who applied for funding has got a red cent. The statistic showing that only 0.3% of funding has been allocated is a scandal. It is time to recognise that the way in which this has been put in place is not working.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Leader funding is delivered through local action groups, LAGs, in each of the 28 Leader sub-regional areas around the country. Leader has a budget of €250 million over the period to 2020 and €220 million of this total has been allocated to the LAGs for the delivery of their local development strategies. The amount of funding which is available for projects, as outlined in the strategies developed by the LAGs, is €164.5 million. The remainder of the €220 million covers the administration costs of the LAGs and their engagement with communities to generate projects.

An additional €30 million is available for Leader schemes which will be delivered at a national level. These are at an early stage of delivery. As of 31 December 2017, almost 600 projects were approved for funding of over €16.4 million. This accounted for 10% of the funding available for projects - €164.5 million - in the strategies developed by the LAGs. As the Deputy will appreciate, these projects need to be implemented before they can submit payment claims and draw down funding.

The pace of project approvals has increased substantially in recent months in line with the historic cycle of Leader delivery. To date, over 900 projects with a total value of almost €27 million have been approved for Leader funding by the LAGs representing over 16% of the project funding outlined in the LAG strategies. A further 320 projects with a value of €17.7 million are within the approvals process. On the basis of the continuing increase in the level of project approvals, together with administrative improvements to Leader which my Department introduced over the last year, I anticipate a significant increase in Leader project expenditure in 2018.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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We know that. In fairness, I am not blaming the Minister but he is the person who is now responsible. The truth is that communities the length and breadth of the country are at their wits' end. I come across community projects that tell me that they will never again apply for Leader and go through this process because the way they are being treated is scandalous. I spoke this morning to somebody who works for one of the LAG projects. The person received notification from Pobal saying it had found a typo in a 27 page document and that it needed to be corrected before it could proceed. They had to search to find a number that was put down backwards. Say the number was 1,710; it had been put down as 1,701 in the document. That number was in the document about ten times but in one spot, Pobal found it was backwards and, therefore, it told the project it had to go through all this again. Who in the name of God is paying this person to sit down and study a thing in that degree of depth that they will find a typo and use it as an excuse to hold up funding for a community project? That is what it is doing the length and breadth of the country and it is time to call it out. It is not working and has not worked. It was a disaster from before it started and it is time to say that Leader needs to go back to the way it was in the old programme.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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A Leader forum was hosted by the previous Minister. We made 31 changes to the programme.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Was it not a bad sign when the Government had to do it?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Twenty-nine of these were implemented by the LAGs. What I have to do is ensure that this is working. I have met and talked to the national organisation. It now tells me that this programme is working better. I will give some examples. I will give the figures as of 30 April this year. The number of projects approved up to 2017 was 592 with a value of €16.412 million. Up to today, 929 projects to the value of €26.908 million have been approved. In the Deputy's own country where figures have improved since I gave him the figures at a meeting of the committee last week, the number of projects awaiting approval was 14 with a value of €831,000 so someone is drawing it down. A total of 15 schemes have been approved to the value of €224,000. The programme is now ramping up. There is no doubt about it. Let us be honest and fair. When these people make an application, if they are putting up a building or any kind of job they are doing, be it a public or community building, hall or sporting organisation, they must put the building in place. We will not pay them until the building is finished. We will not prepay them so they must wait for the money to be drawn down. The projects are being approved, the scheme is beginning to ramp up and I am confident the Leader programme is now beginning to work with the changes we made as a Government and Department.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I am not denying that and I know that. I know many of these projects that have been approved. Some of them have been approved in Leitrim. However, many of them have not been approved and have been set aside on the flimsiest of criteria. If the smallest mistake is made, out they go. This is the problem. During the last programme, the LDCs worked with people and if there was a bit of a problem, they sorted it out. Now there is no working with anybody. It is my way or the highway and that is the problem these community projects face the length and breadth of the country. I understand that the Minister is doing his best. I am not disputing that but the fact is that when it comes to Leader, the best is not enough. We are not getting the money out to the communities. People are not receiving this money and the people who are receiving it are afraid that when these inspectors come, they will find some problem with it and kick the whole lot out again because the process has been made far too complicated and costly. Too much money is going on red tape and not enough money is going to the people. In fairness, the Minister knows that as well. If he knows it, the time has come to call it out and say that the changes made in 2014 were a mistake and that we need to change it.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I will take a quick comment from Deputy Breathnach on the same issue.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I think, particularly with regard to-----

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister should not tell the Chair what he can or cannot do. I am telling Deputy Breathnach, and I have done so before, that he is entitled to make a very quick comment.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to community funding, particularly community groups, where bona fide projects are sanctioned, some facility should be available through the banks and credit unions to allow money to be used. It is difficult for small community groups to find up-front money.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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A total of 63% of this funding comes from Europe while 37% of it comes from the Irish Government. There are some rules and regulations with which we must comply with regard to European-----

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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They are over the top.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I simplified this scheme. Deputy Martin Kenny talked about paperwork. We changed the rules and made 31 changes. We got rid of 55% of the paperwork. I cannot do any more. I am happier now than I was last year. I was frustrated last year with some of the companies that did not make any effort to do something to get this funding out. I want this Leader funding spent and used on the ground and I want to see the projects up and running. I want to see jobs created from it and communities benefit from the Leader companies. I am happier than I was a year ago because I now see that the applications are coming in and are being approved and that the work is starting. I can see a problem down the line. At some stage, some Minister will have to find extra funding because in some year, a lot of this funding will have be drawn down from the Department. The Government and the Department know this but at least now, I see a big improvement. Deputy Martin Kenny's own county is not doing too badly but I see counties with five, four, three or two projects. I want to see projects approved and up and running and I want to see the money spent and in place. I have it in place. It creates a problem for me at the end of the year when this funding is not spent.