Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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273. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the funding that is in place to implement proposals in the Commission for Economic Development of Rural Areas; the projects that funding will be allocated to; if he will designate County Kerry as a pilot area to implement proposals in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46040/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The report of the Commission for Economic Development of Rural Areas (CEDRA) is a broad multi-sectoral document containing 34 recommendations on actions to be taken on areas as diverse as investment and finance, local enterprise support, rural towns, broadband, roads, social enterprise, building community capability, water, rural transport, artisan foods, creative industries, tourism & recreation, marine and renewable energy. Its operational scope requires an integrated response from a wide variety of agencies and Minister Phelan has established a high level Inter-Departmental Group (IDG), involving all the main departmental actors, to assist her in progressing the integrated implementation of the report. Statutory responsibility and funding for these CEDRA actions remains with the relevant lead Departments. They are continuing to fund the range of CEDRA actions, within their remit, which support economic development in rural areas. A wide and comprehensive funding framework is available for this purpose which includes major elements of the draft Rural Development Programme, LEADER, Rural Transport Programme, the Seafood Development Investment Programme and the wider enterprise, capability and community development initiatives operated by other bodies such as the Enterprise Ireland, IDA, Local Enterprise Offices, Local Development Companies, Educational Training Boards and tourism agencies.

In addition, on foot of recommendation 4 (c) of the CEDRA report, a new and additional allocation of €1million was provided in the 2015 Budget to establish a Rural Innovation and Development Fund, to pilot a small number of initiatives under the CEDRA report. Work on developing these proposals is progressing but have not yet been finalised.