Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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686. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the expenditure on the Leader Programme to date in 2018, broken down between administration and projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31942/18]

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

Table 1 details the expenditure incurred nationally under the programme in 2018. This expenditure relates to:

- the administration costs of the LAGs and the costs of their engagement with communities to generate projects - also referred to as "animation" costs; and,

- the expenditure incurred on projects.

The level of project activity under the LEADER programme has increased significantly in recent months, and 1,150 projects have now been approved for funding of over €34.2 million.  A further 298 project applications requesting an additional €18.7 million are at various stages in the approval process.

I am confident that the progress now being made by the LAGs in approving projects, along with the administrative improvements which my Department introduced over the last year, will result in a continued increase in project approvals and payments under the LEADER programme over the coming months.

Table 1: LEADER 2014-2020 Expenditure in 2018 as of 10^thJuly 2018