Two Leader rural development companies will meet EU officials in Brussels this week to complain that Minister for Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív, is attempting to dissolve the firms.
Cavan/Monaghan Rural Development Co-Operative Society and the Barrow, Nore Suir Leader company, claim the Minister is attempting to shut down their organisations by insisting on a single county based development structure.
Over the last number of years the department has been engaged in a process of changing the way local development funding and Leader funding are delivered in local areas.
It has sought to reorganise the delivery of these programmes into single structures operating within county boundaries, according to a statement from the Cavan/Monaghan company.
This process is known as the "cohesion process" and the two organisations say it will mean the disbandment of successful organisations such as Cavan/Monaghan Rural Development Co-op and Barrow, Nore Suir in favour of new individual county structures.
Two programmes are targeted at local development, the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme (LDSIP) and the Leader rural development programme.
The LDSIP targets urban and rural socio-economic disadvantage. Locally, it is delivered by partnership companies consisting of statutory, voluntary, community and private interests.
Leader is a rural development programme aimed at enabling rural communities move beyond economic dependence on mainstream agriculture. It funds enterprise and training projects.
It is delivered by companies or co-ops made up of statutory, voluntary, community and farming interests.
According to Derek McCabe, chairman of Cavan/Monaghan Rural Development Co-op, the Minister is "bulldozing" his way through people and organisations to get his way: "He is ignoring EU guidelines regarding the tendering process for the new rural development programme, is intimidating certain statutory representatives on our board and is interfering with the autonomy of our board."
Mr McCabe also pointed out that EU guidelines relating to applications for delivery of the new programme provide for an open competition that would give preference to companies or organisations with a track record in delivering Leader-type rural development programmes.
He said the co-op has been in existence since the early 1990s and has a strong track record in rural development. It has created and sustained 900 jobs and attracted millions in development funding to these Border counties.
"The board of the co-op believes the critical mass of the two counties increases the capacity to attract funding for rural development projects," he said.
Representatives of the two bodies will meet agriculture commission official Frances White, and will outline their complaints which include claims that pressure has been applied to civil servants not to obstruct the cohesion process.