Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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200. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development his future plans for the disbursement of funds through the Leader programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8971/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Leader is a multi-annual programme for the period 2014-2020 which has a total budget of €250 million over the programming period.  LEADER is administered by Local Action Groups (LAGs) which deliver funding in accordance with Local Development Strategies that have been agreed for each LAG area.

€220 million of the available funding has already been allocated to the 28 Leader sub-regional areas throughout the country. The allocation for each sub-regional area is provided for the duration of the programme rather than on an annual basis.  This provides greater flexibility to the LAGs in managing their resources.

Each LAG is responsible for deciding how their allocation is distributed to Leader projects over the duration of the programme, based on the objectives in their Local Development Strategies. The allocation also includes a provision to cover the running costs of the LAGs.

The balance of €30 million in funding which has not yet been allocated under Leader is available for schemes which will be selected at a national level based on submissions from the Local Action Groups. This includes a specific scheme to fund food projects which will be launched in the coming months, and funding to support LAGs that come together to jointly deliver a Leader project.  

As of 16 February 2018, 738 projects with a value of €20.8 million had been approved for Leader funding by the LAGs and €996,656 in project payments had been made. A further 318 projects requesting over €16 million in funding are at various stages in the approval process. This funding will be drawn down as projects start to incur expenditure and submit payment claims. 

I anticipate that there will be a significant increase in project expenditure over the course of 2018 based on the progress which has been made by the LAGs in approving projects in recent months.  My Department has also introduced a number of administrative improvements to the Leader programme which will also assist LAGs and project promoters in their delivery of the programme.