The Minister for Rural Affairs has issued a strong warning to County Councils that they face losing rural funding if money already given to them by the Department is not spent.
Minister Michael Ring says he has already paid Local Authorities upfront under a number of schemes including CLAR and the REDZ programmes.
Speaking to Ocean FM News in west Sligo over the weekend, the Minister said he personally has had to call the CEOs of County Councils including those in this region to warn them to ‘use it or lose it’.
It’s understood letters have also issued to Councils last week who have failed to spend their allocations so far which are supposed to go towards supporting rural communities.
The Minister says he may have to look at penalties or giving the grants to other organisations:
