Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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23. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total allocation for the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26114/14]

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. A sum of €2.037 billion of the EU funding is allocated to measures to be delivered by my Department with the remainder allocated to LEADER funding which is administered by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Government’s continuing commitment to strategic investment in the agri-food sector and the rural economy is evidenced by the provision of matching funding to bring the total allocation for the new RDP to over €4 billion.

The annual expenditure for each proposed measure over the lifetime of the new RDP will be subject to the normal annual budgetary procedure with the main areas for support being:

- a substantial new agri-environment/climate scheme (GLAS), which will build on the progress made under REPS and AEOS. This will provide for a maximum payment of €5,000 for up to 50,000 farmers and a further payment of up to €2,000 for a limited number of farmers who take on particularly challenging actions;

- continued strong support for disadvantaged areas (now Areas of Natural Constraint) amounting to about €195 million annually;

- support for on-farm capital investment amounting to €395 million over the lifetime of the RDP;

- knowledge transfer and innovation measures, aimed at underpinning farm viability, sustainability and growth through the adoption of best practice and innovative solutions;

- a beef data and genomics programme aimed at improving the genetic quality of the beef herd and worth up to €52 million per year; and

- other supports aimed at collaborative farming, organic farming, etc.