The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
LEADER funding will be down by €105 million over the next five years, according to Councillor PJ Kelly, while CEDRA funding will be worth just 34 cent a year to every person in Clare. Councillor Kelly was calling on the Government to reverse its cutbacks to Leader funding at the adjourned April meeting of Clare County Council and said he was extremely disappointed in the reduction of funding, following a huge level of expectation throughout the country. “The money involved here is EU money, of which the Government only pays 37%,” he said. “In the previous programme we had €352m and because of costs rising over the past five years, we could have expected at least €100m more. Instead, it was cut back by €105m. We were given the impression that we would get €250m, until we actually looked at the small print. It said co-operation projects around the border, €10m; artisan foods, €15m – two in Ireland; CEDRA, €5m …
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