€10 million Fund to support parish halls and community centres with energy bills

The Department of Rural and Community Development has today announced a new €10m fund to support thousands of local community & voluntary groups with their energy bills. The Community Support Fund will support Parish Halls, Community Centres, Local Development Associations, Social Clubs, ICA Groups, Senior Citizen Groups, Men’s Sheds, Women’s Sheds and much more.

Speaking on behalf of the North West Greens, Dr Bláithín Gallagher, Member of National Executive Committee and Constituency Spokesperson for the Green Party said: “I warmly welcome this financial support which will be made available to a diverse range of local community groups to assist with the running costs. Many of these groups provide vital support to our rural communities and most are completely voluntary. People are busy enough fundraising to undertake on top of their day to day work. Such funding grants will help mitigate the rising costs and ease some of the  worry for the many volunteers, staff and boards, already providing much needed supports and services to our local people." 

The new scheme has been devised to support groups with their energy costs who may not have been deemed eligible under previous Government schemes.  These include groups that operate from parish halls and who need support with running costs such as energy or insurance bills.    Applicatio ns from groups supporting rural pursuits and activities are welcome.

The once-off fund will be allocated under the Department’s Community Enhancement Programme and will be administered locally by the Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs).

Groups can also use the funding to carry out small upgrade works and to purchase equipment to support their activities such as laptops and printers, lawnmowers, training equipment, etc.

Funding for the North West totals over €1.2 million with allocations by county as follows: Leitrim  €265,201; Sligo €282,702; Roscommon 279,884 and Donegal €374,061. 

The Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) will administer this fund on behalf of my Department at local level and I would encourage community groups interested in applying to contact their LCDC over the coming days at the contact numbers provided.”

People can call their LCDC at  Leitrim 071-9620005; Sligo 09 1-911111; Roscommon 090- 6637100;  and Donegal 074-9153900.