The Integration of Environmental Sustainability Considerations into EU Development Policy: A Case Study of the LEADER Initiative in the West of Ireland

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Abstract
In peripheral parts of Europe such as the West of Ireland, where environment-development tensions may be particularly sensitive, environmental sustainability principles need to be integrated into all policy and programme areas, as the Fifth Environmental Action programme requires. This paper examines the small but significant LEADER rural development initiative to assess how much its operation integrates sustainability considerations. While LEADER-supported projects are often environmentally benign, there is little evidence of proactive application in LEADER group strategies of sustainability criteria which are other than weak. Economic imperatives dominate LEADER programmes, and many actors are sanguine about potential environmental problems arising from development.