A large number of submissions on the preparation of a national rural development strategy are expected by the Departments of Agriculture and Food and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs it emerged yesterday.
The departments advertised earlier this week for submissions from interested parties to feed into the preparation of the strategy, which will be in line with the new EU support framework for rural development.
The Department of Agriculture and Food said yesterday that the strategy would form the basis for an operational programme or programmes setting out support measures.
The departments will be consulting with the organisations already represented on the Cap Rural Development and Leader monitoring committees but have decided to widen the consultative process to include other representative organisations. These organisations have until the end of this month to submit their proposals.
In recent months there has been a widening gap between the mainline farm organisations and other rural organisations as to what shape rural development should take.
The Irish Farmers Association, Macra na Feirme and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association believe the focus should be on farming activities while other bodies such as Irish Rural Link believe the programmes should have a wider role.