Roche leading the way in EU’s rural development
That’s the view of Jack Roche, the new president of ELARD, the European LEADER Association for Rural Development, who has been elected to the post at a meeting in Brussels.
He takes over the leadership of the umbrella body for LEADER networks in 19 European Union member states at a crucial period as funding policies for the future of rural development are being debated.
Mr Roche is chairman of IRD Duhallow, where LEADER programmes have created 738 jobs.
He is a former member of Cork County Council and a leading figure in Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann. He also has strong links with the GAA and is regarded as a champion of rural development.
He said it was a great honour to have been unanimously elected, but it was also a great challenge, especially at this time when EU budgets for the coming years are being decided.
Mr Roche said he would not have gone forward for the position but for the support he had received from the Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv and his department.
Noting that Ireland is seen as the flagship of LEADER, he said he would regard it as part of his role to help groups in member states, especially those that joined the EU just over a year ago.
Networks of existing and emerging LEADER groups from across Europe have come together for the first time to speak with one voice, he said, stressing that he was impressed with the European Commission’s grasp of rural development issues.
“While Europe is divided between net-payers and beneficiaries, defenders and critics of the CAP and those who are for or against the constitution, thousands of people working at local level in rural areas have come forward with comprehensive proposals for meeting all three Lisbon objectives of competitiveness, cohesion and sustainability.
“LEADER groups have succeeded in all three axes of the rural development regulation.
“They have brought policies for marketing, new technology and quality for the benefit of producers and the many small businesses in rural areas and enabled local communities benefit from the environment as a resource.
“They offer a way of making complex European programmes much more accessible to local people. This is one of the main avenues for European citizens to become involved in shaping the future of Europe,” he said.
The formula proposed by the LEADER networks and outlined to the European Parliament’s agriculture committee by Maura Walsh, secretary of the Irish LEADER Network, on behalf of ELARD, is based on an integrated rural development approach, initiated and promoted by the Commission through the LEADER programme.
She said this approach benefits all stakeholders and sectors: rural communities, farmers, entrepreneurs, environmental groups, and people who rely on and benefit from rural areas - whether they live in the countryside or the city.
Participative rural development methods, tested and perfected by LEADER, have shown that they mobilise the energy, creativity and resources of the private sector as well as local people, producing more jobs and a better environment for a lower cost than many traditional European programmes.
Ms Walsh said that if Europe really wants to advance towards the Lisbon objectives then it should build on the commitment and experience of LEADER and together with the national governments, it must invest more in integrated rural development.
