€3m LEADER funding stalled

THE proposed allocation of more than €3 million for rural development projects in the county is being held up as part of a national review of LEADER funding.

 

Currently, €1.59m is queued awaiting the department allocation of LEADER funds to Clare Local Development Company (CLDC). This relates to 40 applications under various measures, which have secured preliminary approval and are at a project-ready stage, having secured planning permission.

In addition to this batch, there is an estimated additional €1.5m in project queries that could be processed, which are effectively being left in limbo.

Since 1992, when the first LEADER contract was awarded in Clare, almost 1,200 local businesses and community projects have benefited from community-led development funding, which has leveraged public and private investment totalling €86.5m.

Recently, the Department of the Environment released LEADER funding totalling €512,000 for Clare projects, which had been approved up to the end of January but since then, final decisions on funding worth more than €3m have effectively been put on hold.

CLDC has launched a campaign to lobby Clare’s Oireachtas members to ensure community-led development remains in the hands of the group.

More than 120 entrepreneurs, who attended a celebration of 21 years of community-led development in Clare in the West County Hotel, Ennis on Monday, were urged to contact their public representatives to vigorously oppose Environment Minister Phil Hogan’s plans to allow new county council-led bodies replace local development companies as fund administrators.

A department spokesman stated the overall intention of the reform is to bring greater coherence and area-based focus to local development programming and funding.

“While change can be challenging for all, it is crucial that such reforms are undertaken for the benefit of communities and citizens and to ensure optimum use of public funding.

“In taking forward the reforms, the minister has asked all key stakeholders to be involved. A consultative process (The Alignment Working Group) is now underway to oversee these reforms and includes local authority management (CCMA) and representatives of local development companies, the ILDN, Pobal and other stakeholders.

“This co-operative approach to reform is the best way forward, rather than inaccurate and emotive comments about local authority attempts to “subsume” local development bodies, which is clearly not what is set out in the reform programme. We expect the process to be concluded by 2014,” he said.

Since 1992, more than 1,500 jobs have been created or sustained and training provided to 3,000 people in the county. Currently, CLDC employs 68 people on a wide range of programmes, including LEADER, Local Community Development Programme, Rural Recreation Local Training Initiatives and community work schemes.

This year, the company will be responsible for the employment of a further 312 people on community work placement schemes, including Community Employment, the Rural Social Scheme and Tús.

Sixmilebridge parish priest, Fr Harry Bohan warned rural development would die in Clare if the current structure is not maintained to place community-led projects at the core of decision making.

Dr Brendan O’Keeffe cautioned that where LEADER funding has been centralised and delivered through local authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland, it has resulted in the loss of schools, post offices and shops.

Dr O’Keeffe, a rural development and local governance research associate at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, claimed Minister Hogan’s proposal isn’t costed, there was no proper consultation and it would result in a new “quango”.

“Look at evidence from Europe; the LEADER model works, if it is not broken don’t fix it. We need decentralisation, not centralisation. Community-led local development needs to be kept and strengthened.
“We need to shout ‘stop’ before it is too late. European evaluation says we need more autonomy at local level, giving groups more flexibility in how they disperse their funds.”

Describing the minister’s proposal as a “disaster and a money grab”, board chairman Stephen Walsh stated even councillors believe it is a “crazy” idea.

“Eighty-five percent of Clare LEADER staff have third-level qualifications. They have built up in total 511 years of experience in community-led development. If you come into LEADER with a good idea, you come out with a project. That is why we are different. This plan is short-sighted and opportunistic. It ignores all the evidence from the EU,” he said.

“What Minister Hogan wants to do is discard community-led development and replace it with the State. Our organisation has 21 years experience of bottom-up development, a huge voluntary input, strong relationships with communities and people on the ground and provides better value for money,” commented Doirin Graham, CEO of CLDC.

“There is a danger if it is mainly councillors making decisions, the process could be politicised or county council plans or priorities at executive might take precedence over the quality of a community-led project,” she said.