Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to correspondence (details supplied), if he will provide reassurances of the long term support for the rural development programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17517/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The new Rural Development Programme (RDP) will be drawn up under the terms of the proposed rural development Regulation when it is finalised as part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. We have now entered the second – trilogue - phase of the negotiations between the Council, European Parliament and the Commission with the aim of getting political agreement in June.

The future programme, like all national spending, will be subject to ongoing budgetary policy. In the case of the new programme a general co-financing rate of 53% is proposed but this rate may rise to a maximum of 80% for measures such as farm and business development, co-operation activities, Leader projects, and other measures. Environmental type measures may be co-funded up to 75%. The amount of exchequer funding that will be required to draw down the available EU funding will depend both on the types of measures that will be included in the Programme and on the co-financing rate, that are agreed with the EU Commission for these measures.

In relation to EU funding for the RDP, Ireland’s overall allocation has been decided by the European Council in the Multi-annual Financial Framework and this is now with the European Parliament for consent. In light of the fact that neither the content of the programme nor the co-financing rates applicable have yet been determined, it will be appreciated that we are still some way from the point where national decisions on exchequer funding of the new RDP will fall to be made.