SOLICITORS ACTING for the Cavan Monaghan Rural Development Co-operative have lodged extensive documentation with the European Commission in its case against Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív.
The Minister has been attempting to amalgamate the Leader rural development companies and area development companies to reduce from 94 to 55 the number of agencies delivering services.
However, the Cavan-Monaghan Co-op, which has delivered the Leader programme in the two counties for more than 17 years, is accusing the Minister and his department of infringing EU law in relation to the tendering process that will precede the roll-out of the EU Rural Development Programme 2007-2013.
It claims the Minister is in breach of this law by not allowing for open competition at the tendering process and restricting the possibility of success to those companies that have engaged in a "cohesion process" in each county.
As a two-county entity, Cavan-Monaghan would be excluded from this new scenario.
The Cavan-Monaghan Rural Development Co-op further claims the Minister has used State funds in excess of €7 million in a discriminatory manner to fund these new structures and their preparation of business plans.
This has put them in prime position to make successful bids for local delivery of the new rural development programme to the exclusion of any other legitimate group that may wish to apply, according to a statement from the group.
Derek McCabe, chairman of Cavan-Monaghan Co-op, said Mr O Cuív, in pursuit of his "so-called cohesion process", had sacrificed everything that the Leader programme had established over the past 17 years - "the bottom-up approach, the Leader brand, volunteerism and a wealth of skilled staff".
Mr McCabe added that within the new structures, rural development would be buried under the Social Inclusion Programme, which brings very heavy administration levels.
"What is proposed will ultimately short-change the farming community and leave no tangible results post-2013," he said.
While the Minister is understood to have reached agreement with the majority of the Leader groups, there are ongoing disputes with five of the 55 areas he has designated.
Until agreement is reached, the Government is not going to accept applications under the new Leader programme, which has meant that some of the Leader companies have not had current funding for a year.
It is not known how long it will take the commission to make a ruling on the Cavan/Monaghan case.