Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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48. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will consider allocating additional funding to the LEADER programme for 2023 to 2027, given the recently announced indicative allocation of €180 million for this period and in consideration of the fact that LEADER funding has stagnated since the previous period and has dropped significantly since the period from 2007 to 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60565/21]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Minister about the indicative funding that has been disclosed in respect of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and what will be available under the LEADER programme from 2023 to 2027. It is a huge drop on the period from 2007 to 2013, considering the very important role played by LEADER. I ask the Minister to make a statement on what has been announced thus far.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government clearly recognises the vital role that LEADER plays in delivering impactful rural development projects at local level and it will continue to support investment in rural Ireland. In the 2014-20 CAP programming period, €250 million was allocated to LEADER. For the seven-year programming period from 2021 to 2027, this funding allocation will be maintained. It is comprised of €70 million provided for the transitional period from 2021 to 2022, and the recently announced indicative allocation of €180 million for the period 2023 to 2027. The maintenance of the €250 million funding from the 2014-20 period is evidence of the Government's continued support for the LEADER programme.

Any discussion of rural development investment must also take account of the record levels of investment in recent years. A range of schemes have been implemented in recent years, such as the rural regeneration and development fund, the town and village renewal scheme, the walks scheme, and the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme.

Budget 2022 also saw increases secured across all my Department's rural schemes and the national development plan, NDP, outlines a clear commitment to a continuation of investment in rural Ireland as a matter of priority. Capital funding allocations for my Department have seen an increase from €88 million in 2018 to €205 million in 2025 under the NDP.

This increased funding will help to deliver on the range of actions for our rural communities into the future as set out in the Government’s ambitious rural development policy, Our Rural Future.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister will be aware that the Irish Local Development Network, ILDN, has put forward proposals on what has been announced on LEADER. It is seeking a budget of €389 million for the LEADER programme. It is coming at this issue based on the commitments that were made in Our Rural Future. I do not think it is good enough that we should stand still. I appreciate the Minister's point that by adding the transitional fund period to the period from 2023 to 2027, we will reaching that €250 million figure, similar to the 2014-2020 level. However, it is a much reduced budget from the level reached from 2007 to 2013. For instance, my native county of Roscommon got over €11 million in the CAP period from 2007 to 2013. Looking at the indicative budget for the period from 2023 to 2027, it is looking at €6 million. The budget announced from the CAP is much less for that period if you take the transitional period out of the scenario. That will have an impact on counties such as Roscommon and Galway in particular.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I met the CEOs of all the LEADER groups just last week. It was a very positive engagement and gave me a good opportunity to hear a lot of what they had to say directly and to allow them to outline to me the really good work they are carrying out in their areas. Martina Earley, from the Roscommon LEADER Partnership in the Deputy's neck of the woods, outlined to me the different issues she had, as well as the great work they are doing down there. In fairness, there is confusion about this LEADER budget but the one thing I am certain about is there is absolutely no cut to funding. The previous LEADER programme from 2014 2020 had funding of €250 million. That is plain to be seen. The programme from 2021 to 2027 has a total of €250 million, that is, €70 million of transitional funding and €180 million in funding for the period from 2023 to 2027.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I agree that really wonderful work is being done in counties such as Roscommon where LEADER partnerships are doing a great deal of excellent work, whether in job creation, development or sustaining current jobs. It represents massive amounts of funding for enterprise and boosting tourism. They have done a lot for the county, as have partnerships across the State. LEADER, in particular, has a really important role to play.

The Minister is probably aware of an issue that has arisen in a number of counties whereby for that transitional period, funding is almost gone or has been allocated for this year and they have no funding left for next year. That is an issue. We need to look at the level of funding the Government is putting up in relation to the CAP fund. It is not enough to stand still at the €250 million allocation from 2021 to 2027. We have to consider that it is a huge drop from that 2007 to 2013 period when we were looking at an allocation of €425 million. I gave the example of Roscommon. There is a big difference between €11 million and €6 million over the fairly lengthy period covered by this LEADER programme. I ask that the Minister, at the very least, looks at the ILDN proposal.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Between 2007 and 2014 is some time ago. The 2014 to 2022 allocation was €250 million and this programme is also worth €250 million. The €70 million transition programme is over two years, that is, this year and next year. It would be fair to say you would expect to have around 50% that already spent. According to our records, we have approvals of €16 million, which really only represents about 33% of the budget. Some of the LEADER companies are performing very well in getting their money out and others are not doing so well at all.

The Deputy's native county of Roscommon has a project allocation of €1.9 million over the two-year period. It has €667,000 worth of approvals, which accounts for 24%. County Kilkenny has €1.7 million in project allocation funding, for instance. It has approvals of €270,000. It has only about 15.69% of its funding allocated. I think, to be fair, there is sufficient money there currently.