Carlow has made a bold bid for independence, at least in regard to funding for rural development. The move has not gone down well in Kilkenny, which wants to maintain its link with Carlow and part of south Tipperary for the purposes of the EU-backed Leader programme. At stake is control of up to £7 million in spending on development projects in Carlow over the next five years.
For the past decade the three counties have combined to form Barrow-Nore-Suir Development Ltd (BNS), one of 37 Leader groups throughout the State which grant-aid local projects. A view has emerged that Carlow has not received a proportionate share of the support administered by BNS and that it is time the county had its own Leader programme.
With the backing of Carlow County Council, an interim Leader board has been established and has applied to the Department of Agriculture and Food for separate recognition for Carlow in the next round of funding. BNS has made a rival submission which seeks to maintain the status quo.
With the current Leader programme winding up, two schemes have been established to replace it. One of these, Leader+, is funded by the EU and is targeted at innovative rural development projects, particularly benefiting women and young people. A limited number of rural areas will be selected.
The second scheme, the Government-backed National Mainstream Rural Development Programme, will support a broader range of projects and is likely to apply throughout the State. Both schemes seek to maintain the Leader objective of supporting a "bottom-up" approach in which local communities make their own decisions about the projects to be funded.
Of the 87 applications with the Department, 47 are for funding under the rural development programme and 42 under Leader+. Thirty-eight groups, including BNS and Carlow, have applied for funding under both schemes. The applications are currently being examined by independent consultants who are due to report to the Department in the coming weeks. A final decision will then be made by the Government.
There is some concern in Carlow, however, that the Minister of State responsible for the schemes, Mr Noel Davern, has expressed support for the BNS position. He said recently that if the BNS region remained as it was, the decision on whether to award it Leader+ would be an easy one.
Mr Davern said yesterday that, at the insistence of the European Commission, a maximum of 25 groups would qualify for Leader+. "That means there will have to be amalgamations. If a group splits you can see the difficulty that will cause. There's a misconception in Carlow that they will get more money if they're on their own."
The chairman of the Carlow interim board, Mr Frank Corcoran, said he was disappointed by Mr Davern's comments but he was confident the Carlow application would be assessed on its merits "and if it is I think it will succeed", he said.
The Carlow board, which has the support of FAS, Teagasc, Carlow Chamber of Commerce, the IFA and other locally-based agencies, believes it meets key criteria for the Leader+ scheme. The EU says that as a general rule each Leader group should exist in a "defined geographic area" of not less than 10,000 and not more than 100,000 people.
Carlow has a population of 42,000, whereas the area administered by BNS has a population of 126,000. BNS sources reply that the true rural population of the area, when Kilkenny city and Carlow town are discounted, is 87,000. The manager of BNS, Mr Darragh Kelly, says the group's record speaks for itself. "With two Leader programmes under its belt and an experienced board and staff, BNS will be in a position to implement the next phase of Leader without delay."
He also suggests BNS may not be prepared to accept a reduced mandate to operate in two counties only. "BNS's success in the application process for Leader will be on an all or nothing basis," he says.
In its application for nearly £3.5 million under the rural development programme, the Carlow board claims the county received only £796,000 of the £3.6 million allocated to BNS under the Leader programme now concluding, well below its proportionate entitlement. BNS says Carlow got its fair share when administration costs were taken into account.
The two sides are due to hold talks soon but it appears there is little to discuss. Two of the four Carlow-based members have resigned from the BNS board and there is no sign of a compromise. Mr Corcoran says Carlow will settle for nothing less than having its own Leader programme, in common with other neighbouring counties. "Why can't we be a county in our own right?" he asks. "Why must we be subservient to Kilkenny?"
