Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future is a whole-of-Government policy for the sustainable development of rural Ireland for the period 2021-2025 and supports the delivery of other key Government policies and objectives. Implementation of the LEADER programme is a central element of Our Rural Future and the new LEADER programme will continue to build on the success of LEADER over the last 30 years.

The process to select the Local Action Groups (LAGs) to deliver the 2023-2027 LEADER Programme is ongoing at present and the Local Development Strategies which were submitted by the applicant LAGs are currently being assessed.

A number of strategies have been approved to date and the Department is now focusing on completing the selection of the remaining LAGs with a view to concluding this process by the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition from the 2014-2020 programme. All applicant LAGs will be notified of the outcome of the selection process in their sub-regional area as they are approved.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The LEADER Programme is a key intervention of Our Rural Future, the Government’s Policy for rural development, which aims to deliver a range of actions to rural communities over the lifetime of the policy.

€250m has been made available for the LEADER programme for the period 2021 to 2027. This is comprised of €70 million for the transitional period 2021 to 2022 and an additional €180 million from 2023 to 2027, thus maintaining the level of funding provided for the 2014-2020 programming period. This funding has been allocated to each of the sub-regional areas which are, for the main part, aligned with the county boundaries. The methodology to distribute the funding used a baseline allocation together with an allocation based on the population density and the level of deprivation in each sub-regional area. There are no proposals to revise these allocations.

County Galway has been allocated €12,628,253 in funding for the programming period 2021-2027, which is an increase of 3.55% over the previous seven-year period.

I am confident that the level of funding allocated for the 2021-2027 programming period is sufficient to meet the demand for grant funding from rural communities and businesses and to continue the effective operation of the LEADER programme.