Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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125. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will seek to avail of the facility of community-led local development funds such as the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund to add to the traditional Rural Development Programme funding and give the local action groups a sustainable budget for five to six years and also broaden their scope for action in this crucial time in the recovery of rural areas from Covid-19 and Brexit, given that the CAP budget is significantly reduced on previous funding periods, the 2014-2020 Leader programme budget was approximately 60% of the value of the same programme less than a decade ago and projections on existing figures indicating a further reduction to approximately 33% of the budget a decade ago. [38313/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The LEADER programme is co-financed by the European Commission under Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), through the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

In December 2020, I launched the Transitional LEADER Programme which came into effect from 1 April 2021 and will run to the end of 2022. A total of €70 million is being made available over this programming period. €65 million of this budget is available to Local Action Groups (LAGs) who deliver the programme and approve projects at local level. This allocation covers both core project expenditure and the administration and animation costs of the LAGs.

€20 million of this Transitional LEADER Programme is funded by the European Union Recovery Instrument, which will enable local communities and enterprises an opportunity to respond in a community-led local development manner to COVID-19.

The EU budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), is a seven-year spending plan, allowing the EU to plan and invest in long-term projects. As part of this, EU Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are allocated to Ireland according to the Irish Partnership Agreement, which was developed by stakeholders and the Irish Government, in conjunction with the European Commission. The current Partnership Agreement was adopted in 2014 for the period 2014-2020.

The Partnership Agreement is designed to ensure that ESIF funding is used to its full potential throughout Ireland and that funds complement one other. It is also designed to help prevent double funding. It is also framed by various evaluations and public consultations conducted within Ireland.

The Partnership Agreement for the next round of funding is currently being developed.

It is a matter for each Managing Authority for the funds referenced by the Deputy to decide how to disburse each fund. Officials within my Department are exploring the options for community-led local development funding within other EU funding streams.

The total level of funding available for the next LEADER Programme will not be finalised until the process of designing all of the interventions in the new CAP Strategic Plan is more advanced.