Funding cut may be least of problems in new LEADER

Perhaps it’s just as well that changes at EU level have caused a cut in EU funding of more than 30% for rural development in Ireland.

The budget from the EU was reduced about 6%, and Irish Government co-funding was reduced 40% compared to the the 2007-2013 period, understandably in view of the disastrous state of national finances after the bail-out.

But, if the more generous funding of the noughties era was still available, the outcry over the LEADER rural development scheme would be even more strident now.