Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 487: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made on the programme for Government proposal to fully implement the rural development programme in order that farmers benefit fully from the increased payments and new schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28540/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Rural Development Programme for Ireland 2007-2013 was approved by the EU Commission in July 2007. It has a budget of €5.778 billion over the lifetime of the Programme of which €2.339 billion will be funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EARDF) and €3.438 billion by the national exchequer.

The main measures and allocation of funds under Axes 1 and 2 are REPS/Natura (€2.98bn), Disadvantaged Areas (€1.8bn), Early Retirement (€418m), Installation Aid (€63m) and Farm Investment (€85m). All of these Schemes have now been commenced.

There is a budget allocation of €425m for the broader rural development measures under Axis 3 and these will be implemented using LEADER, which emphasises a "bottom up" approach comprising area based local development strategies implemented by local action groups.

Expenditure under the Programme at the end of June 2008 was close to €798.2m, being 13.8% of the total Programme budget. This expenditure has funded the investment and environmental measures under axis 1 and 2 and expenditure under the Leader measures will commence when the local action groups are fully established later this year.