Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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335. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she expects the Leader programme to be made available throughout the country over the next twelve months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45372/22]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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336. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she expects the Leader programme to be made available in County Kildare over the next twelve months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45373/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 335 and 336 together.

The LEADER Programme is one of the key interventions of Our Rural Future, the Government’s Policy for rural development.

I was delighted to welcome the recent announcement that the European Commission has confirmed their approval of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan for 2023-2027, which includes the LEADER programme. This approval is a key step in the delivery of the next LEADER programme for the period 2023-2027

A number of further steps will now be completed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in advance of bringing the CAP Plan to Government for final approval in the coming weeks.

As part of the new Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan, the Government has committed significant funding of €180m to LEADER for 2023-2027. This allocation was agreed by Government in October 2021.The allocation of this funding across LEADER areas will be announced in tandem with the forthcoming two stage selection process for the new LEADER programme.

Transitional funding of €70m was also provided for the LEADER Programme 2021 and 2022 to ensure that there was no gap in funding prior to the commencement of the 2023-2027 programme.

My Department’s focus now is to finalise the design of the new LEADER programme in conjunction with key stakeholders. I hope to be in a position to launch the selection process in the coming weeks.

For the duration of the selection process, stakeholders will be engaged in preparatory work relating to strategy design and a separate funding stream is available to support this work.

While this process is ongoing, existing LEADER Groups will also still be engaged in delivering projects on the ground and in closing out the current programme.

All available project funding has not yet been allocated to projects or drawn down by LEADER groups under the transitional programme. Approximately 80% of project funding has been committed by LEADER groups and I am aware that they continue to develop projects ‘in the pipeline’ in order to fully utilise the available budget.

Currently, nationally, over 5,400 projects have been approved for funding in excess of €228 million. The total amount allocated to the Kildare LAG under both the 2014-2020 and Transitional programme was over €6.8 million. This funding is allocated at the start of the relevant programming period rather than on an annual basis in keeping with the flexibility afforded to LAGs in managing delivery.

I am confident that the implementation of the new LEADER programme will help to sustain the crucial contribution that LEADER has made to the realisation of our ambitions for rural Ireland as set out in Our Rural Future.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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339. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she hopes to continue to support recreational walk schemes throughout the country and in County Kildare over the next twelve months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45376/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Walks Scheme, which is funded by my Department, contracts landholders to undertake maintenance work on National Waymarked Ways and other priority trails that traverse their lands. The landholders receive modest payments for maintenance work undertaken in line with agreed work plans. In addition, my Department’s Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) provides funding for the development and enhancement of amenities such as walking trails.

Last September, I announced the approval in principle of 31 new trails to join the Walks Scheme. This fulfills the commitment in the Programme for Government and Our Rural Future to double the number of trails on the Scheme to 80 trails. These trails are being formally brought onto the Scheme by Local Development Companies who deliver the Walks Scheme locally and who are developing work plans for each of the individual landholders involved.

The new trails added to the Scheme were selected following a call for expressions of interest to join the scheme. I understand that no expression of interest was received in respect of trails in County Kildare.

Trails that are eligible for inclusion in the Walks Scheme are those that are registered on Sport Ireland’s trail register. All trails for Co. Kildare currently registered with Sport Ireland are managed by Coillte or Waterways Ireland, and are therefore not eligible under the Walks Scheme as it is aimed at private landholders.

There may be other routes in Co. Kildare, which run through private lands that are not included on Sport Ireland’s trail register. In order to be considered under the Walks Scheme, the Community Trail Management Organisation or Local Development Company should engage with Sport Ireland Outdoors to register a trail. Further information can be found on the Sport Ireland website.

Once the 31 new trails are fully operational under the Scheme, I will examine the potential for the further expansion of the Scheme. An expression of interest process will be opened for new trails in advance of any further expansion of the scheme.