Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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206. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if, as previously, it is intended to have a single Leader company delivering the Leader programme on all the offshore islands; if not, the arrangement that will apply to the islands; the details of the discussions that have taken place with the island communities, in relation to this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18079/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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For the purposes of the Leader elements of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, rural areas in Ireland are considered to be those areas outside the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

As the Deputy will be aware, Ireland is reconfiguring the way in which local and rural development interventions are implemented. This is in line with Government policy to ensure that local government is well positioned to support the effective and efficient delivery of local and rural development. In this context, €220 million of the overall Leader programme complement for the 2014-2020 period has been allocated based on administrative or county boundaries to 28 sub-regional areas. I do not propose to change this at this stage.

However, in the context of the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme, I am anxious that the implementation of the Leader elements of the programme reflects a community led approach and in order to ensure this, each sub-regional area will be responsible for determining its own needs and will outline how it proposes to address those needs in its Local Development Strategy.

This approach will also apply to those areas that contain island communities and each Local Development Strategy will be required to outline how it proposes to address the needs of both its Island and Gaeltacht communities, as appropriate. I encourage these communities to ensure that they engage fully with the Local Development Strategy development processes for their respective areas in order to ensure that their needs and concerns are fully addressed.