The founding members of the BNS were aware of the forthcoming announcement of the European Union's pilot LEADER programme and under the Chairmanship of P.F O'Shea of Avonmore, decided to apply for one of the 16 pilot agencies reserved for Ireland. LEADER, is an acronym of the French title Liaison Entre Actions de Dévelopement de l'Économie Rurale, which translatesas 'cooperating for the development of the rural economy'. LEADER is an EU rural development programme which seeks to achieve its objectives by supporting and promoting innovative projects and processes. In Ireland the original concept of the designers of LEADER was adopted and the programme was awarded on foot of application to 'Local Action Groups' (LAGs) which were representative of the wider interests involved in rural development outside statutory and local authority structures. LAGs were required to make a significant contribution to their own running costs and Avonmore as the leading partner in BNS's formation were very generous in their provision of resources and personnel in this respect.

LEADER +

Since its foundation BNS has successfully administered two complete LEADER programmes, LEADER I (1991-95) and LEADER II (1996-2000).In August 2001 BNS was successful in its application to administer the new LEADER + programme to the Kilkenny and southeast Tipperary region. The company was awarded a total of €5.1 million for the period 2001 - 2006, one of the largest LEADER allocations in the state. The bulk of the money has been granted by the EU commission, but almost €900,000 has been allocated by the Irish government for the specific task of assisting rural tourism projects. In December 2001, the company approved its first projects for funding under LEADER+ and continued to do so until December 2006.