Written answers

Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Department of Rural and Community Development

LEADER Programmes

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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844. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the steps she is taking to provide for interim funding for the Leader programme for the period 2021 to 2023. [34940/20]

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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845. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development her plans for a new Leader programme; and the stage the programme is at regarding pillar 2 funding. [34941/20]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 844 and 845 together.

The current 2014-2020 LEADER programme, which is co-financed by the European Commission under Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will come to an end this year as far as new project approvals are concerned.

Proposals for the post-2020 CAP were launched in June 2018 by the European Commission. However, given the lengthy nature of discussions on the CAP and the wider EU Budget at EU level, there has been a delay in adopting these proposals. This means that the next LEADER programme will not commence until January 2022 at the earliest.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to prioritise a State-led programme to bridge the gap between the current LEADER programme and the next EU programme. The objective of this commitment is to allow local-led rural development projects to be delivered under a Transitional Programme until the new EU programme commences.

An extra €4 million has been provided for LEADER in Budget 2021, to bring the total allocation for next year to €44 million. This allocation will be used to fund a combination of existing projects as they come to completion, for new projects to be approved under the Transitional Programme, and to support the administration costs of the Local Action Groups in closing out the existing programme and delivering the Transitional Programme.

It is important to recognise that LEADER is a multi-annual programme and that payments in respect of projects which are approved in any given year are generally not drawn down until subsequent years as the projects are completed. Therefore, costs related to projects under the Transitional Programme are likely to be met from the provision in my Department’s Vote in 2022 and 2023, as well as in 2021.

I hope to be in a position shortly to announce the details of the Transitional Programme which will come into effect in 2021.

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