Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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450. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the expenditure by LAG to date on projects under the Leader programme 2013-2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38633/18]

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. 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.

More than 1,300 projects with a value of more than €39 million have now been approved under the programme. A further 325 projects with a value of €20.8 million are at an earlier stage in the approvals process.

Table 1 details the project expenditure incurred to date in each LAG area.

Project payments have increased significantly in recent months as approved works are completed and claims for payment are submitted by the project promoters. Over €6 million of project expenditure has been incurred in 2018 compared with just €600,000 in 2017.

The progress now being made by the Local Action Groups in approving projects will result in a continued increase in project approvals and payments under the LEADER programme for the remainder of the year. This progress has been assisted by improvements made by my Department in the last year to the applications and approvals process, in consultation with the LAGs.

Table 1: LEADER 2014-2020 Expenditure as of 17 September 2018