Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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66. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of funding that has been provided to counties Laois and Offaly through the LEADER programme in 2019 and 2020. [49416/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The 2014-2020 LEADER programme for Ireland had an allocation of €250 million. €225 million of this budget was allocated at the outset of the programme 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 costs of the LAG.

The balance of €25 million is provided for thematic projects which are approved at national level.

The amount allocated to Co. Laois for that period was €7.1 million and to Co. Offaly was €8 million.

At the end of 2020, the Laois LAG had approved 129 projects with a combined value of €5.4 million, while in the same period, the Offaly LAG had approved 249 projects worth a combined value of €6.6 million.

The breakdown of expenditure incurred in 2019 and 2020 by the Laois and Offaly LAGs is provided in Table 1 below.

Final claims for payment under the 2014-2020 programme must be submitted to my Department no later than 30 June 2024.

Table 1: Table of Expenditure for Laois and Offaly LAGs