Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 May 2025
387. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the key performance indicators used to measure the effectiveness of the LEADER programme in rural economic and community development; and if he will publish comparative outcomes for the 2014 to 2020 and 2023 to 2027 programming periods to date. [21884/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe current LEADER Programme runs to 2027 and is now up and running across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups across rural Ireland.
The monitoring framework for the LEADER programme is underpinned by the themes and sub-themes for the programme, and the objectives set by each Local Action Group in their Local Development Strategy. As each Local Action Group developed their Local Development Strategy, they were required to set out the key indicators relating to their proposed actions. Thus, at local level, each Local Development Strategy has a set of bespoke indicators in place.
At the overall programme level, LEADER is subject to the EU's common framework for monitoring and evaluation which applies to the wide range of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funded programmes. This framework sets out a range of common indicators which the Department reports on to the EU, and also reports on in its Annual Report.
Examples of the indicators and metrics used to measure the performance of the 2014-2022 LEADER programme included:
• the number and value of projects supported with over 5,800 projects supported with funding of over €243 million,
• the support towards micro, small and medium enterprises with enterprise supports provided to over 1,700 businesses,
• jobs created and sustained with over 3,800 Full Time Equivalent posts created and over 12,500 Full Time Equivalent posts sustained, and,
• training with over 46,000 people completing training under LEADER.
Similarly, the current CAP Strategic Plan (of which LEADER is one element) includes a range of result, context, impact and output indicators across the programmes funded in the plan, and the Department will report on these indicators as the current LEADER programme progresses through implementation over the period to 2027. These indicators cover a range of areas including the coverage of the LEADER programme, the level of support for social inclusion projects, the level of support for rural businesses, and the level of support for Local Development Strategies.
