Seanad debates

Thursday, 4 October 2012

3:10 pm

Photo of Trevor Ó ClochartaighTrevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Tá go leor ceisteanna le cur faoi feidhmiú an chláir Leader sa Ghaeltacht, atá á ardú agam inniu. Tá a fhios againn gur imigh Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta Teoranta as feidhm in 2011. Tá go leor ceisteanna faoi sin freisin. Bhí roinnt clár faoi scáth Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta, an clár forbartha tuaithe agus an clár forbartha áitiúil ina measc. Ó shin i leith, tá sé de chúram ar an Roinn socruithe a dhéanamh maidir leis na cláir seo sna ceantair Ghaeltachta. Cá seasann an próiseas sin faoi láthair? Tá sé ag tógáil cuid mhaith ama. D'ardaigh mé an cheist seo go minic leis an Aire ó thús na bliana. An fhadhb atá ann ná go gcuirfidh na socruithe atá le déanamh, dé réir mar a chloisim, sórt gunna le cloigne na gcomhlachtaí atá ag plé leis na cláir seo. Tá na comhlachtaí teagmhasacha, nó cineál comhlachtaí béaldorais, tar éis conarthaí a fháil leis an gclár Leader a chur i bhfeidhm sa Ghaeltacht. Tá dhá chuid sa chlár Leader. Níl a fhios ag cuid de na tograí a bhí faoi scáth Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta cén seasamh nó stádas atá acu agus na conarthaí nua le tabhairt amach. Cá seasann an clár Leader?

Tá daoine amuigh ansin atá ag fanacht leis an airgead.

To summarise, the Leader programme has been handed to next door neighbour or contiguous companies to the Gaeltacht because of the demise of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta, MFG. The programme itself has been in limbo in the Gaeltacht for the past year, since MFG fell by the wayside. There are legacy issues with regard to the programme and quite a number of projects have been left in limbo. A number of people involved in those projects have contacted me over the past year. For example, one community group in Donegal contacted me because it is ¤60,000 in the red with the bank. It has paid ¤4,500 interest on that loan in the past year, on moneys due to it from Leader. That group does not know where it stands. Another group which does not mind me putting its name on the record, Ionad Cultúrtha Baile Bhúirne, is in a similar position. It is owed ¤9,000 for a staidéar feidireachta or feasibility study for which it paid and which was to be paid from Leader funds. However, it has not received its moneys. I have also spoken to a number of individuals who had Leader projects who have been left high and dry. They were given part payment and had taken out loans or paid for services and goods, but have not received their funding from the Leader programme.

I believe two contracts are being offered to the contiguous companies to ensure the Leader programme continues. One is for the Leader project from now onwards. We need this to go ahead as soon as possible so that people can make applications and avail of and draw down the Leader funding so that it is spent in time. However, I am told that the gun is also being put to their head and that the contiguous companies must also sign a contract to take responsibility for all the legacy projects. They are not comfortable with that, because there is no sense of what is in the folders or whether the paper work has been done properly etc. I do not blame them for that.

Where do the people concerned stand? It is very unreasonable of the Department to force them into this situation and they should be allowed get on with the current Leader projects. The Department has had over a year to find some kind of a solution, legal or otherwise, to resolve the issues around the legacy projects which have been left in limbo. This is a hugely important issue. It is important on a personal level for all those involved in the projects. They need answers because they are being hounded by banks for moneys owed. It is unfair to leave them in that position.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus tá súil agam go mbeidh freagra dearfach aige dom.

3:20 pm

Photo of John PerryJohn Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. The Leader initiative was established by the European Commission in 1991. It was designed to aid the development of sustainable rural communities under the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Leader II, which commenced in 1994, extended the programme to all rural areas in Ireland and was delivered by 34 groups. While Leader I was a pilot initiative, Leader II was designed to complement the strategy for rural areas in the national development plan for 1994-99. In addition to an increased level of funding and coverage of all rural areas, emphasis was placed on the acquisition of skills and improved capacity building to ensure the delivery of the business plan for the rural areas. Leader continued in the 2000-06 round of EU funding and operated in all rural areas in the country in that programme period. Since 1994, therefore, all rural areas of Ireland, including all Gaeltacht areas, have been included in the Leader elements of the successive rural development programme.

While initially some 36 groups were contracted to deliver the Leader elements of the current programme round from 2007 to 2013, currently there are 35. Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta, the group contracted by the Department to deliver axes 3 and 4 of Leader in the rural development programme in the Gaeltacht areas, went into liquidation on 7 September 2011, leaving Gaeltacht areas temporarily without access to the programme. Progress in the context of the legal winding up of the MFG is ongoing. In this context, the Department has developed an approach that will facilitate the continuation of the programme in Gaeltacht areas and address the existing rural development programme projects with outstanding claims for payment.

This has proved to be a complex legal process which has taken time to resolve. MFG was a private limited company and it is beyond the remit of the Minister or the Department to direct the business of such a company. The group's liquidation process is ongoing. I acknowledge and regret that the current situation has caused delay to the delivery of the Leader elements of the rural development programme in the Gaeltacht areas. However, this delay relates primarily to the need to ensure the continued effective delivery of projects funded under the rural development programme.

The Department is also responsible for ensuring that any solution is fully compliant with and has the capacity to ensure that all projects are fully compliant with all EU national requirements. The process of identifying the promoters whose projects are at an advanced stage of development has been established and a system of co-operation with local development companies contiguous to the Gaeltacht areas is in place to facilitate the final checking and processing of payment claims in respect of these projects. Hopefully the projects raised by the Senator will be included in that. Many of these files have now been sent to the relevant local development companies, which will be in touch directly with the relevant promoter.

In the context of the delivery of the axes 3 and 4 Leader elements in the rural development programme in Gaeltacht areas in the long term, I can confirm that contracts have been issued to groups which will now formally replace MFG as the delivery mechanism of the rural development programme Leader funding for the Gaeltacht areas of counties Galway, Donegal, Kerry, Cork, Waterford and Meath. The Department is formalising arrangements with the relevant local development companies. While there is a system in place to address the current outstanding commitments in County Mayo generally and future delivery for the Gaeltacht areas of south Mayo in particular, some further work is required to finalise a solution for the remaining areas there. However, I expect a solution will be reached shortly.

Local development companies processing Gaeltacht area projects will be provided with adequate and reasonable administration funding, based on the cost of delivering all outputs under the revised contracts, subject to all applicable regulatory limits and conditions under the rural development programme. The local development companies will provide the Department with projections on these costs so that provision may be made for the additional administrative burden of taking on contracts in the respective Gaeltacht areas. The final solution will see the future delivery of Leader elements of the rural development programme allocated to relevant local development companies. This is a significant step forward. I am confident the Gaeltacht areas of Ireland will be restored to full access to rural development funding in the near future.

Photo of Trevor Ó ClochartaighTrevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. The outstanding issue and the main point I would like him to bring back to the Minister is that the contiguous companies being granted the contracts should not be held liable for the sins of their predecessor, MFG. As the Minister of State has said, they have not been given some of the files, so they do not know what is or is not in them. It seems very unfair that they are being told they must sign a contract of liability for all of those files and projects, despite not knowing what is involved in them. It is incumbent on the Minister of State to say to the Minister that he should not insist on this. The companies should take on the files and projects and process them as much as possible, but they should not be held liable for any work not done or not done properly by MFG. This would move the process on more quickly and would ensure the people who deserve payments will get them and the programme can move forward quickly.

Photo of John PerryJohn Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I will convey those issues to the Minister and ensure he takes note of the Senator's comments with regard to the files and the liabilities. I will stress the Senator's determination to ensure that matter is considered.