Departmental Programmes Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central I thank the Senators for raising this important matter. I am not going to reveal the budgetary process because we have not yet got to that point. The point made by Senator Cosgrove in the context of spending on military alliances and defence has happened across Europe. It is something to which we cannot close our eyes, in particular on the eastern flank. As the Taoiseach said in the Dáil yesterday, we are a peripheral nation that is a bit removed from what is happening with Russia. Having said that, I will also say that last year in our Department, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I secured a record €11 million in the budget for SICAP and the LEADER programme, which are two of the key interventions delivered as part of the ongoing Government investment in our communities. I share the regard of the Senators for the extraordinary, Trojan work being done. It is about strengthening, empowering and enabling communities and, in particular, new, diverse and inclusive communities across our country. The Minister and I have worked hand in glove on this matter. We have seen across the country, as the Senators know well, the real and tangible benefits that are being delivered. Elected representatives in this House know the work being done. We see it in our own areas but we also see it across the country. The LEADER programme has been at the heart of the development of rural Ireland for the past 35 years. It is the key element of our Department’s rural development investment programme. Both the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are committed in the budgetary process to keeping that momentum going. Under the current four-year LEADER programme, €180 million is available to rural communities across our country. To date, local action groups have approved over 1,300 projects, valued at over €64 million. I look forward, with the Minister, to seeing those projects come to fruition across the country in the coming months and years. As the Senators rightly said, LEADER is funded under the CAP and, therefore, the development of the EU regulations relating to the post-2027 CAP and the new national and regional partnership plan is a matter of significant importance to our Department and to the Minister and me. Within the draft regulations, the continuation of the LEADER programme as a CAP intervention is welcomed. I appreciate and acknowledge contributions made by the Senators, and those many members of my own party and others have made, to the effect that the changes are causing uncertainty. I get it, as I travel the country the whole time. As part of the ongoing negotiation process - I have travelled to Poznań in Poland and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has been at the Council of Ministers meeting - our Department has consistently emphasised at every opportunity the importance of a ring-fenced allocation for the LEADER programme to ensure that the post-2027 programme can continue its vital role in supporting rural communities across our country. As the Senators will understand, there are many details that remain to be finalised as part of the negotiation process to put the regulations in place and discussions at a detailed level are continuing. These negotiations are expected to continue through Ireland's term of office as the President of the Council of the European Union. I assure both Senators and all Members of the House that our Department, the Minister and I will continue to engage directly with our European colleagues and the Commission to ensure that the LEADER programme continues to be well funded into the future. The Senators also mentioned SICAP, which is our primary national social inclusion programme. It is doing huge work. Without it, look at the levels of poverty we would have and the exclusion, rather than inclusion, we would have. We would have inequality rather than equality. We are supporting disadvantaged people and communities. I pay tribute to local development companies for their work. SICAP funding is part of the budgetary Estimates process. Last year, we secured an extra €1.5 million in the budget, which brought the increase in funding to SICAP since 2022 to €11.3 million. That means we have in excess of €50 million to be spent. I will come back in a moment to the other points in my reply. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-01