Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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778. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the rolling out of the Leader programme; when local groups and businesses will be able to apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23389/15]

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. Under stage one of the selection process for the new programme, any entity who wished to be considered as a Local Action Group was invited to submit an expression of interest. For the purposes of the new programme, there are 28 sub-regional areas in Ireland and 45 separate expressions of interest were received. A single expression of interest has been received in 17 of the 28 areas and at least 2 expressions of interest have been received in the remaining 11 areas. In areas where multiple expressions of interest were received, my Department has given an undertaking to facilitate discussions between the relevant entities with a view to engaging all parties and if possible to reach an agreement to develop one coherent local development strategy for their area. In this regard, my Department commenced meetings recently with a range of entities and these will continue over the coming period.

In the meantime, I expect that all the expressions of interest will be presented to an Independent Evaluation Committee for assessment and decision by late June. On foot of this, preparatory support will be made available to all eligible Local Action Groups selected by the Committee. The Groups will then be provided with a minimum of 6 months to develop their strategies but I expect some strategies to be submitted much earlier than this.

The Independent Evaluation Committee will also assess and make the final decisions with regard to the quality of the local development strategies. In areas where a single strategy is submitted, the Committee in question will review and evaluate these strategies with a view to ensuring that the strategies meet the required standard. In areas where entities do not come to an agreement and multiple strategies are submitted, it will be a matter for the Evaluation Committee to a make a decision on which local development strategy best meets the needs of the community. I anticipate that the new programme will be operational in some areas by Autumn 2015 and hopefully in all communities by early 2016.