Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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525. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total financial provision in the draft rural development plan 2014-2020 for the new GLAS scheme and the disadvantaged area scheme-areas of natural constraint scheme respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21214/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Rural Development Programme, 2014-2020 (RDP) will be co-funded from the National Exchequer and the EU’s European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The agreement reached on the Multiannual Financial Framework provides for a total allocation of EU funding of €2.19 billion (€313m per annum over 7 years) to Ireland for a new RDP. €2.037 billion of the EU funding is allocated to measures to be delivered via the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with the remainder allocated to LEADER funding which is administered by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The new RDP will be a key support in enhancing the competitiveness of the agrifood sector, achieving more sustainable management of natural resources and ensuring a more balanced development of rural areas. I have announced today full financial allocations as well as important new details in relation to the support measures to be included in the new RDP.

The total financial provision for the new GLAS will be €1,450 million over the lifetime of the RDP. The total financial provision for the Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme will be €1,370 million. This allocation includes a new additional top up to compensate island farmers for the particular challenges they face.