Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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692. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she expects the LEADER funds to be of assistance to the various community groups throughout 2020 or in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43505/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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LEADER is a multi-annual programme which has a total budget of €250 million over the period to the end of 2020. €225 million of this funding has been allocated as core funding to each of the individual Local Action Groups (LAGs) who deliver LEADER. The remaining €25 million is available for schemes to be delivered at a national level and is allocated as projects are approved.

LEADER funding is provided under a broad range of themes, including Economic Development, Enterprise Development and Job Creation; Social Inclusion; and Rural Environment. Community groups and rural-based businesses can apply for funding under these themes. The website of the National Rural Network contains case-studies of how LEADER has benefited local communities and businesses.

As of 13 December 2020, 3,763 core projects with a value of over €149 million have been approved for LEADER funding by the LAGs, representing over 88% of their project budgets. When applications that have received provisional approval are included, the percentage approval rate rises to over 91%.

The current LEADER programme comes to an end this year as far as new project approvals are concerned. However, projects approved before the end of December 2020 have until June 2022 to complete their projects and submit payment claims to my Department.

In line with a commitment in the Programme for Government, I will shortly be announcing details of a Transitional LEADER Programme to commence in 2021, which will bridge a gap between the wind-up of the current 2014-2020 LEADER Programme and the start of the next EU programme which will not commence until 2023 due to delays at EU level.