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Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, today (Thursday 26 January) announced the details of the 46 applicant groups who were successful under Stage 1 of the 2023-2027 LEADER programme.
As part of Stage 1 of the selection process, eligible groups were asked to submit expressions of interest to their Local Action Groups (LAG).
The successful applicants will now move on to Stage 2 which will see them develop their LEADER Local Development Strategies. These strategies will support sustainable development in rural communities.
This is a significant step in the process which will see the new LEADER programme supporting communities and businesses right across rural Ireland.
Making the announcement, Minister Humphreys said:
“For over 30 years, the LEADER programme has been hugely effective in delivering locally-led projects that have brought major benefits to communities across Rural Ireland. LEADER operates on a bottom-up approach, which empowers local communities to deliver projects that will contribute greatly to revitalise rural Ireland’s towns and villages.”
The Minister continued:
“Today, I’m pleased to announce the outcome of Stage 1 of the process for selecting groups to deliver the new LEADER programme and to invite these groups to develop new and innovative strategies for their areas. I would encourage communities across the country to get involved in the development of the LEADER strategies to help ensure that LEADER can continue to deliver projects and initiatives that are directly linked to local needs and priorities.”
Minister Humphreys has made a fund of €2 million available to the 46 successful applicant groups to assist them with the development of their Local Development Strategies. Details in this regard are now issuing to these groups.
LEADER List of Eligible Applicants Stage 1
Our Rural Future is the whole-of-government policy for rural Ireland for the period 2021-2025. It represents a new milestone in the approach to rural development policy for Ireland and adopts a more strategic, ambitious and holistic approach to investing in and maximising opportunities for rural areas.
LEADER, a key intervention of Our Rural Future, is a rural development programme co-funded by the EU, which operates a locally-led, bottom-up, approach to meeting the needs of rural communities and businesses. The programme supports private enterprises and community groups in rural areas.
The programme is based on a community-led approach to rural development and plays an important role in supporting communities and enterprises in progressing job creation, social inclusion and environmental projects at local level.
Funding is currently delivered by 29 Local Action Groups (LAGs) in 28 sub-regional areas. These groups are partnerships of public and private entities from a defined geographical area. LAGs are responsible for local projects in accordance with the Local Development Strategies they develop themselves.
€250 million has been made available for LEADER for the period 2021 to 2027. This is comprised of €70 million for the transitional period 2021 to 2022, which came into effect on 1 April 2021 and an additional €180 million from 2023 to 2027.
The LEADER local development strategy (LDS) is a plan designed by members of rural communities, through their Local Action Groups (LAGs), to support the sustainable development of their own rural communities.
LDSs are designed through a “bottom-up” process facilitating participation by any member of the rural community and taking full and comprehensive consideration of not just local needs but also local potential.
An LDS should examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) that face a particular area and outline the types of actions to be supported to address the weaknesses and threats and exploit the strengths and opportunities identified.
The LDS should be a realistic reflection of how LEADER funding might best be used to support the sustainable development of the area outlined.
It should also fully consider all actions that are ongoing or planned by other agencies charged with, or involved in, supporting development in their area. In particular, the LDS should be complementary to and support EU, national, regional and local strategic plans such as the Local Economic and Community Plans (LECPs).