Prendergast urges Hogan to reconsider Leader plan

LABOUR REBEL MEP Phil Prendergast has urged Minister Hogan to reconsider his position on LEADER funding.

She has called on Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan to halt plans that will see Leader funding money being administered by local government. The move, she said, will see the administration of the funds taken out of the hands of local development companies all over the country, where they have been successfully implemented since the funding came on stream.

Minister Hogan is drawing up plans for ‘ local development committees’ to be run under the auspices of the county council, which will, at least, substantially replace local dvelopment groups, such as Avondhu Blackwater Development and Ballyhoura Development. “To be honest, I am very wary of removing the administration of these funds away from local development companies. You are removing it from the hands of the people it affects most, and politicising it by handing it to the councils,” said Prendergast.

“The beauty of the Leader funding is that is very much based around the benefits it provides to the communities, the people who can feel the full effects of it. It is a bottom up approach, that ... has been hugely beneficial.”

“I would call on Minister Hogan to reconsider his position on this issue. Listen to the people on the ground.

“It’s not broken, so why is there a desire to tinker with it?”