Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he has specified the way Leader funding should be spent by local authorities; and if he has provided priority to rural areas. [18583/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The LEADER element of the Rural Development Programme 2014–2020, will provide €250 million in financial resources to support the development of sustainable rural communities.

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 programme complement for the 2014-2020 period has been allocated based on administrative or county boundaries to 28 sub-regional areas.

The LEADER element of the Rural Development Programme will be delivered using a community led local development approach by Local Action Groups operating within the framework of a Local Development Strategy. Each Local Action Group will be made up of representatives from all relevant socio-economic partners in their sub-regional area. These groups will have decision making responsibility in relation to what projects will receive funding within the framework of actions outlined in their Local Development Strategy.

Due to their critical role in the management and development of sub-regional areas, local authorities, with local agreement, may form part of the membership of a Local Action Group and in some instances, may provide support for the management and administration of the LEADER elements of the pro gramme at a local level. It should be noted, however, that all decisions regarding the allocation of LEADER funding will be made by the Local Action Group as a whole and not the local authority.

I can advise the Deputy that my Department will be providing guidance to all Local Action Groups in the context of the delivery of the LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme in the form of a set of operating rule s in order to ensure that all expenditure is compliant with relevant regulations. My Department will not, however, be prescribing what interventions should be supported in a given sub-regional area. Such decisions will be a matter for each Local Action Group and will be made by groups in the context of their Local Development Strategy.