Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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64. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the rural development programme will be approved and become operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4020/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The draft Rural Development Plan (RDP) 2014-2020 was formally submitted to the European Commission on 3 July 2014, a number of weeks in advance of the regulatory deadline. The Commission’s formal observations on the draft RDP were received on 20 October 2014 with a total of 266 observations, incorporating a range of informational, techn ical and policy matters.

Negotiations in relation to the formal adoption of the RDP are currently underway between my Department and the Commission. It is, however, difficult to predict the exact timing of RDP approval given the capacity constraints experienced by the Commission in approving 118 RDPs across all Member States.

At present, Department officials are in ongoing and intensive discussion with the Commission in order to seek a speedy resolution of outstanding issues . The agreement of the new RDP and the subsequent roll-out of schemes is being pursued as a matter of priority.