There has been a welcome for the European Commission's decision to allocate €2.34 billion to Ireland under the new European Agriculture Rural Development Fund from 2007 to 2013.
Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, said this would mean a trebling of the annual "outside the farm gate" rural development budget for Ireland. "This means an increase in the annual budget for Leader-type activity from an average of €21 million per year to €60.8 million per year."
He said that the decision was very much in line with Government thinking and would give a major boost to rural economic activity. However, not all of the money will go directly into schemes such as Leader. It will be administered from one fund called the European Agriculture Rural Development Fund.
The funding will be directed to four main areas: improving the competitiveness of farming and forestry, which includes supporting training measures for farmers; giving more practical support to young farmers; backing farmers who participate in food-quality schemes; and supporting environment and countryside agri-environment measures and initiatives to promote sustainable forestry.
It will also be used for improving the quality of life and the diversification of the rural economy, encouraging tourism, supporting small businesses and helping to provide basic services such as childcare facilities.
Irish MEP Liam Aylward has suggested that a large proportion of the fund should go towards the provision of improved and more accessible broadband facilities in rural areas.
IFA president Pádraig Walshe said the decision would have to be seized on by the Government to tackle structural deficits in farming and to help the industry adjust to competition.
Mr Walshe said that EU funding, combined with national funding, could be used for a range of rural development measures to make a significant economic and environmental impact.
Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan, who will be meeting her European counterparts to decide where the rural development funding should be spent, announced yesterday that farmers could expect an early delivery of their single-farm payment this year.
She said that she had received a positive response to a request for an early pay-out of the annual payment from October 16th.