Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

2774. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way in which his Department is measuring the impact of LEADER projects on rural job creation and enterprise development. [47175/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The current LEADER Programme, which runs to 2027, is operational across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups across rural Ireland.

The monitoring framework for the LEADER programme is underpinned by the themes and sub-themes for the programme, and the objectives set by each Local Action Group in their Local Development Strategy. As each Local Action Group developed their Local Development Strategy, they were required to set out the key indicators relating to their proposed actions. Thus, at local level, each Local Development Strategy has a set of bespoke indicators in place.

At the overall programme level, LEADER is subject to the EU's common framework for monitoring and evaluation which applies to the wide range of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funded programmes. This framework sets out a range of common indicators which the Department reports on to the EU, and also reports on in its Annual Report.

Examples of the indicators and metrics used to measure the performance of the 2014-2022 LEADER programme included:

• the number and value of projects supported with over 5,800 projects supported with funding of over €243 million,
• the support towards micro, small and medium enterprises with enterprise supports provided to over 1,700 businesses,
• jobs created and sustained with over 3,800 Full Time Equivalent posts created and over 12,500 Full Time Equivalent posts sustained, and,
• over 46,000 people completing training under LEADER.