Eurolink News

Local action groups and farmers urged to apply for Leader funding (26/5/08)

May 25, 2008 at 5:19 pm Leave a comment

After a nine month delay, the latest round of rural development funding has been announced by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon O Cuív. A total of €425 million will be administered between now and 2013 by local LEADER development groups around the country. 55% of funding comes from the EU, with the remaining 45% supplied by the Irish taxpayer. Speaking at the launch last week, Minister O Cuív said he was confident that the initiative had the capacity to create 10,000 new jobs and attract investment of over €1 billion euro into rural Ireland.
Advertisements have already appeared in national and local papers calling for proposals from rural action groups to supervise funding in their locality across a range of activities, including business creation, tourism, village renewal, conservation and heritage training.
Welcoming the news, Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott urged local community, farming and fishing groups throughout Munster to put their names forward as soon as possible to administer the funding, and prepare individual project submissions when the programme reaches application stage in a couple of month’s time. However she cautioned that farmers and farming groups should not be excluded from using the money. ‘The funding allocated to the LEADER programme has been taken from agriculture and is being diverted to local communities,’ Ms Sinnott explained. ‘In the Irish context, this means taking money away from family farms at a time when agriculture can ill-afford it. It is imperative that rural development money is spent in the local community, by the local community, so that Irish rural dwellers get maximum benefit.’
Tom Turley, the IFA’s Rural Development Chairman, agreed. He said the programme should allow farmers to diversify with off-farm or on-farm enterprises, adding ‘A key initiative that should be funded is on-farm alternative energy projects, including carbon-neutral electricity production that could be fed into the national grid.’

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