Minister for Community & Rural Development Michael Ring TD has today, 21st October 2019 announced an additional €500,000 for Leader Projects in North Cork.
This announcement is part of the distribution of €5 million in additional LEADER funding for ten areas that are most advanced in the delivery of the LEADER Programme. Each of the ten best performing Local Actions Groups (LAGs) will receive an additional €500,000 to be allocated for rural development initiatives in their counties.
Welcoming the funding for North Cork, Fine Gael General Election Candidate for Cork North West Cllr. John Paul O’Shea said “This is a very welcomed funding boost for North Cork. There has been great strides made within the North Cork Local Action Group to deliver on Leader funding for North Cork through its implementing partners Avondhu Blackwater Partnership, Ballyhoura Development & IRD Duhallow since the programme began. This additional funding of €500,000 will make an enormous difference to communities throughout North Cork”.
LEADER is delivered by 29 Local Actions Groups across the country whose role is to develop local strategies and to identify, select and fund projects in their respective areas which support their local strategies.
The funding announced by Minister Ring is additional to the existing budget of €220 million already available to LAGs.
The 10 LAGs who will be offered additional funding of €500,000 each are:
- Kerry
- Mayo
- Waterford
- Limerick
- Cork North
- Donegal
- Tipperary
- Offaly
- Leitrim
- Cavan
Minister Ring said: “In making this announcement today, I am delivering on my previous commitment to provide additional funding to those Local Action Groups which are performing well in the delivery of the LEADER programme.
“Some Leader Groups have performed very well in allocating funds to projects. I am keen to reward the best performers and I know that this extra funding which will greatly benefit communities in those areas.”
The full table of in relations to use of funding by LAGs is as follows:
Ranking of LAGs based on the percentage of their project budget allocation approved and paid as at 20 September 2019
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) |
| Local Action Group | Local Development Strategy Project Allocation | % of Allocation Approved | Allocation ranking
(1=High, 29=Low) |
% of Allocation Drawn Down | Drawn Down Ranking
(1=High 29=Low) |
Total Score
(4)+(6)
|
Overall Rank |
| Kerry | €7,648,558 | 76.94% | 2 | 31.31% | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Mayo | €8,248,645 | 74.69% | 4 | 29.73% | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| Waterford | €5,566,670 | 64.50% | 9 | 39.43% | 1 | 10 | 3 |
| Limerick | €6,942,584 | 76.85% | 3 | 27.95% | 8 | 11 | 4 |
| Cork North | €3,805,071 | 80.79% | 1 | 24.13% | 11 | 12 | 5 |
| Donegal | €9,628,589 | 61.72% | 10 | 35.26% | 2 | 12 | 5 |
| Tipperary | €7,564,073 | 71.43% | 6 | 25.68% | 9 | 15 | 7 |
| Offaly | €6,001,669 | 59.43% | 11 | 31.30% | 4 | 15 | 7 |
| Leitrim | €4,498,167 | 70.43% | 7 | 21.16% | 13 | 20 | 9 |
| Cavan | €6,409,583 | 58.14% | 14 | 28.56% | 7 | 21 | 10 |
| Clare | €6,609,050 | 68.06% | 8 | 19.68% | 14 | 22 | 11 |
| Carlow | €4,797,811 | 52.49% | 16 | 28.79% | 6 | 22 | 11 |
| Roscommon | €6,586,752 | 72.16% | 5 | 15.57% | 18 | 23 | 13 |
| Sligo | €5,726,736 | 59.16% | 12 | 22.56% | 12 | 24 | 14 |
| Wexford | €7,569,678 | 55.06% | 15 | 24.50% | 10 | 25 | 15 |
| Louth | €4,551,902 | 49.35% | 18 | 16.11% | 17 | 35 | 16 |
| Monaghan | €5,708,155 | 47.32% | 20 | 19.08% | 15 | 35 | 16 |
| Wicklow | €4,743,790 | 46.88% | 21 | 14.44% | 21 | 42 | 18 |
| Meath | €5,139,855 | 58.71% | 13 | 7.23% | 29 | 42 | 18 |
| Cork South | €2,839,017 | 44.48% | 22 | 14.79% | 20 | 42 | 18 |
| Kilkenny | €5,791,285 | 37.47% | 25 | 15.06% | 19 | 44 | 21 |
| Cork West | €3,628,104 | 50.17% | 17 | 7.52% | 28 | 45 | 22 |
| Laois | €5,314,767 | 28.96% | 29 | 16.94% | 16 | 45 | 22 |
| Westmeath | €5,563,394 | 47.51% | 19 | 7.59% | 27 | 46 | 24 |
| Dublin Rural | €4,728,612 | 36.38% | 26 | 12.19% | 22 | 48 | 25 |
| Galway West | €3,406,692 | 43.71% | 23 | 9.75% | 26 | 49 | 26 |
| Kildare | €3,899,564 | 38.63% | 24 | 9.91% | 25 | 49 | 26 |
| Galway East | €5,728,456 | 35.37% | 27 | 11.61% | 23 | 50 | 28 |
| Longford | €5,703,537 | 32.37% | 28 | 11.43% | 24 | 52 | 29 |
The selection of the ten highest performing LAGs was based on an assessment of the level of funding they had approved for projects and the level of funding actually drawn down in respect of those projects by 20th September 2019. All LAGs were notified of the selection criteria in advance.
