Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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37. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount spent to date under the 2014-2020 LEADER programme by project and administration costs; the amount expended to date on project costs by each LAG; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30425/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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LEADER is a multi-annual programme with a total budget of €250 million over the period 2014-2020. €220 million of this funding has been allocated to the Local Action Groups (LAGs) to cover the costs of delivering their LEADER Local Development Strategies. The remaining €30 million is available for thematic schemes to be funded outside of the core budget allocated to each LAG.

Total expenditure on the LEADER programme since it commenced is in excess of €54 million. This includes:

- €1.5 million for the cost of developing the LAG strategies (preparatory support)

- €28 million for expenditure incurred by the LAGs in administering the programme and supporting the project development process (administration & animation costs);

- €24.8 million for individual LEADER projects funded through the core budget available to each LAG.

There has been a significant increase in project approvals since the start of 2018, with over 2,100 projects approved to a value of €75.8 million from the LAGs' core budget. Project payments, in particular, will increase significantly as these projects are completed and submit payment claims

Table 1 below provides a breakdown of the project payments made to date by each Local Action Group.

The figures provided do not include payments made under the thematic schemes funded outside of the core budget allocated to each LAG.

Total LEADER Project payments by LAG as at 8^thJuly 2019