North Cork LEADER launch

Cork County Council has announced that the North Cork LEADER Programme will be launched shortly, with funding of €5.1m over its 2016–2020 lifetime, supplemented by a Cork County Council-funded top-up of 25%.

This supplementary fund of €1.28m has been made available by the County Council in response to the dramatic cut in allocation conpared to the previous LEADER programme, but also in recognition of the work undertaken heretofore by the incumbent local development companies through LEADER.

The three Cork Local Community Development Committees, in conjunction with Cork County Council Chief Executive Tim Lucey, have written to the Minister responsible expressing concerns at the reduced LEADER allocation.

The North Cork Local Community Development Committee (LCDC), which is a Committee of Cork County Council, will be the LEADER Local Action Group (LAG) for North Cork, which means it will be responsible for managing and administering funding in the upcoming LEADER programme.

Consisting essentially of a consortium between the LCDC and the three incumbent local development companies (Avondhu Blackwater Partnership, Ballyhoura Development, and IRD Duhallow), the North Cork LAG will roll out the programme and distribute funding to local communities in North Cork as soon as possible.

Councillor Gerard Murphy, Chair of the North Cork LAG, said that LEADER provides a real opportunity to invest in local communities that are starved of funds.

He said contact details, application forms and further information will be published shortly and will also be available on the www.northcorkleaderlag.com website.