North west MEP Marian Harkin has accused the government of undermining the ability of the LEADER programme to create jobs and sustain rural areas.
The current programme is currently ten months old and has yet to approve any projects in a number areas in rural Ireland. This is compared to the previous programme, which, in its first ten months approved €1.4 million worth of projects.
A meeting is due to take place today between Leader CEOs and the government to discuss the delays.
Ms Harkin says there is a real lack of progress in the current programme and that bureaucracy is ‘choking’ the current programme.
