Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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522. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the total funding provided under the Leader programme 2007-2013; the amount of this provided for projects; the amount spent to date broken down between projects and administration; the amount spent on projects this year and the total funding left for spending on projects and administration respectively; the latest date given by his Department to have projects completed and claims made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31544/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The current value of the Axes 3 and 4 elements of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 is €370 million. In addition, €5 million has been provided for an Axis 1 Agri-food measure. Up to a maximum of 20% of the total expenditure can be used to defray administration expenses leaving a minimum of 80% of the funding available for projects and animation expenses.

To date, €211.9 million has been spent on projects, €12 million on animation expenses and €57.3 million on administration, giving a total of €281.2 million.

The spend to date in 2014 is €37.4 million. Of this, €32 million relates to projects and I expect this to increase steadily over the coming months. There are outstanding project commitments of €73.5 million under the Programme. The 20% administration associated with this would be €14.7 million.

My Department has allowed LEADER project promoters’ contracts to be extended to the 30th September 2014. If an extension of time is required beyond that point it is a matter for the relevant Local Action Group (LAG) to present an argument on a case by case basis to my Department outlining the circumstances. In any event no extension will be granted beyond the end of November 2014, as LAG contracts expire at end of December 2014.