Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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583. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the financial allocations on an annual basis under the 2014-2020 rural development programme per measure 19 support for LEADER local development; the annual amount expended on the programme in each year of the RDP up to 30 September 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43471/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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LEADER, which is referred to at EU level as Measure 19 of the Rural Development Programme, forms part of Ireland's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and has a total budget of €250 million over the programming period. 

€225 million of this budget is allocated to Local Action Groups (LAGs) who deliver the programme and approve projects at local level. This includes €5 million in additional funding I allocated to the top 10 performing LAGs this week. The balance of €25 million is provided for thematic projects which are approved at national level. 

The funding which has been allocated to the LAGs 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.

Table 1 details the overall expenditure incurred each year to date under the programme.  The figures reflect expenditure from the LAGs' core funding as well as expenditure under the national thematic schemes.  The expenditure includes the initial costs incurred by the LAGs in developing their Local Development Strategies in the early years of the programme, LAG administration costs and the cost of their engagement with communities to generate projects, as well as project expenditure itself.

Expenditure and project approvals under LEADER have increased significantly over the last year.  As of 30^thSeptember 2019, a total of 2,419 projects were approved by the LAGs for core funding of over €90.2 million. A further 292 core projects with a combined value in excess of €23.5 million were at earlier stages of the approvals process.

In addition, over 100 Food and Co-operation projects have been approved at national level under the thematic schemes referred to above.

The level of project expenditure under the programme is expected to increase further in 2019 as payment claims are submitted in respect of these project approvals.

Table 1: LEADER 2014-2020 Expenditure broken down per year as of 30^thSeptember 2019