Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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209. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of additional Exchequer funding that will be required to draw down the maximum amount of Leader funding for the Rural Development Programme 2014 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19010/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 is a co-financed programme with a proportion of the programme coming from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the remainder coming from the National Exchequer. The co-financing rate for the LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 is 65% EAFRD and 35% National Exchequer.

The total Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 allocation from the EAFRD was €2.19 billion and the Irish Government decided to allocate 7% of this to LEADER. On that basis the proportion of the EAFRD that is allocated to LEADER in Ireland is €153 million. On the basis of the 65%/35% co-financing rate the Exchequer funding required in order to ensure maximum draw down from the EAFRD is €82.4 million.