Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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97. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the level of funding committed to date under the 2014 to 2020 LEADER programme in County Meath; and if he is satisfied with the level of drawdown in County Meath under the programme. [15468/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The LEADER programme is administered in County Meath by the Meath Local Action Group (LAG). The LAG is the Meath Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) in partnership with Meath County Council and Meath Partnership CLG. The total amount of funding allocated to the county for the duration of the LEADER Programme is in excess of €6.9 million.

To-date, 34 projects with a combined grant value of over €1.4 million have been approved by the LAG.  This amounts to almost 28% of its project budget.  A further 7 projects, with a grant value of €252,443, are at an earlier stage of the approvals process.

At the end of March, claims totalling €113,876 had been paid for projects in County Meath.  However, payments will increase as project works are completed and claims for payment are submitted by the promoters. 

The level of project approvals represents an increase of approximately €450,000 over the last two months since I gave a commitment to the Deputy that I would further examine the delivery of the LEADER programme in County Meath.

My Department has now reviewed the delivery of the programme with the Meath LAG and explored implementation issues with all of the delivery partners. Following on from this review, the LAG has reiterated that at least 80% of the project budget available in Meath will be allocated by the end of 2019. This would be consistent with the objectives of the programme nationally and I will be closely monitoring the achievement of this target in the coming months.