Drastic cutting of LEADER funding is a wilful attack on rural Ireland

The European Rural Parliament met in Scharding, in Austria, recently, where 250 delegates from 40 European countries agreed the following manifesto.

“We strongly advocate a territorial, integrated and partnership-based approach to rural development, pursued in a bottom-up and place-based spirit. We wish to see a widespread application of the LEADER principals, and its extension into community-led local development, both within and beyond the EU.

“We are highly concerned by the current lack, in many countries, of a truly integrated process of regional and rural development. We urge institutions and governments within the EU to demonstrate a trust in Local Action Groups, to expand their funding, and to adopt rules and procedures to the needs of rural communities, and to ensure a truly integrated approach to local development and to the use of multiple funds”.