Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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201. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the cost of restoring Leader funding to the level that was originally allocated under the 2007 to 2013 rural development programme, by county, in tabular form; the amount of moneys expended to date, by county to date under the 2014 to 2020 rural development programme; the 2016 allocation for Leader funding and total expenditure to date, by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20227/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The original allocation for the LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 was just short of €400 million (see Table 1). The LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 will provide €250 million in financial resources to support the development of sustainable rural communities (see Table 2).

LEADER funding for the 2007-2013 programming period was not allocated based on county boundaries but to individual Local Action Groups on completion of the Local Development Strategy process. The allocations were revised in 2013 when the EU co-financing rate changed due to the financial downturn, resulting in a decrease in the overall programme allocation.

€35 million had been allocated to the LEADER 2014-2020 programme for this year. The expenditure incurred to date under the programme in 2015 and 2016 relates to funding for Preparatory Support for the preparation of Local Development Strategies (see Table 3).

Table 1 – Local Action Group Allocations 2007 – 2013

Table 2 – LEADER Allocations 2014 – 2020

Table 3 –Expenditure by County 2015 – 2016