Mayo Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary has welcomed news that a Transitional LEADER Programme will come into effect in April 2021, stating that Mayo is to receive €1 million from the €20 million allocation that will be available to Local Action Groups (LAGs ).
Deputy Calleary stated: “In line with a commitment in the Programme for Government, the Transitional LEADER Programme will bridge a gap between the wind-up of the current 2014-2020 LEADER Programme and the start of the next EU programme, which is not likely to commence until 2023 due to delays at EU level.
"The key features announced by the Minister today are: An initial allocation of €20 million under the Transitional Programme to cover both new projects and the administration costs of the Local Action Groups who deliver the programme; Project approvals under the Transitional Programme to commence from April 1, 2021. However, Local Action Groups can work on identifying and animating potential projects from January 1, 2021; Funding will also be provided in 2021 to the Local Action Groups for the on-going management and delivery of projects still running under the 2014-2020 LEADER programme; Under the Transitional Programme, the grant rate for enterprises and commercial projects will be increased from a maximum of 50% to a maximum of 75% to support enterprise development and job creation in rural areas; A new call for proposals under the LEADER Food Initiative, which supports new and existing artisan, micro and small food producers, will be announced in 2021; The deadline for commitments under the current LEADER programme will be extended to the end of March 2021 to facilitate the full allocation of funds available under that programme; Under the current programme, Local Action Groups will be allowed to recommit un-used funding due, for example, to underspends or projects not proceeding.
“A further €7 million will be provided to the Local Action Groups in 2021 for the ongoing management and delivery of projects still running under the 2014-2020 LEADER programme,” said Deputy Calleary.
