Galway Rural Development has been praised for its continued work supporting local communities through LEADER and other EU funding programmes.

Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus spoke about the effectiveness of local development strategies at grassroots level after meeting with Galway Rural Development CEO Steve Dolan in Athenry alongside his party colleague Louis O'Hara.

MacManus said: "LEADER funding supports a 'bottom-up' approach to bring about positive change in rural areas through training and up-skilling in communities and in supporting individuals and community groups to access the required funds for their development projects.

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"This provides rural individuals and community groups with greater decision-making responsibilities around the future development and direction of their local area. It helps to revitalise rural society by creating greater employment opportunities at local level and builds strong social cohesion and collaboration within rural communities.

"LEADER has benefited countless individuals and groups in almost every town and village across the west of Ireland. It is a hugely important programme for our rural communities, many of which would be lacking in basic facilities without it."

He added: "I was delighted to visit Galway Rural Development last week and hear about the positive impact of LEADER and other EU funding programmes in the local area. I would like to commend the team for their excellent work in supporting local communities across East Galway through these programmes."