€425m plan to benefit rural growth

A €425 MILLION rural development programme is expected to trigger potential investments of €1.7bn in local areas over the next five years.

Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuív announced the Leader elements of the programme at European Union House in Dublin yesterday.

The package is almost treble the amount made available in the last programme and is the largest ever for rural development in Ireland.

A total of €234m will come from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and €191m from the national exchequer.

The long-awaited programme will be co-managed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Local action groups will be invited in the coming days to submit proposals to administer the funding to support and facilitate the continued development of rural communities all over Ireland.

They will be asked to submit business plans for their local areas that will be evaluated by independent evaluators.

Activities to be funded under the programme include diversification into non-agricultural activities, support for business creation, encouragement of tourism activities, basic services for the economy and rural population, village renewal and development, conservation and upgrading of rural heritage as well as training and information.

Minister Ó Cuív said the level of funding available has increased significantly since the last programme, as has the percentage of grant funding in many cases, particularly for community activities.

Michael Ludlow, chairman, Comhar Leader na hÉireann, said the funding levels will allow Leader groups to continue to contribute in a meaningful way to the development of rural Ireland.

“Recent independent analysis has shown that Leader companies in Ireland have attracted five times the public funding provided under the last rural development programme.

“It is our pledge to the Government and to our rural constituencies to continue to maintain this level of funding and efficiently manage a potential €1.7bn investment in rural Ireland over the next five years,” he said.