Leitrim and Border counties leading the way in retrofitting homes

On Friday, May 5, ‘Retrofit Ready’ was officially launched by Eamon Ryan, Minister for  Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport at ATU Sligo. 

Removing Barriers to Retrofitting 

The types of grants available for home retro-fitting are evolving all of the time and it can be  difficult for homeowners to know how best to avail of these supports when making efforts to  improve their home's environmental impact. In rural areas, it can also be difficult to engage  with the right suppliers due to distances involved. To take the frustration out of the process,  the 'Retrofit Ready' programme has recruited two Retrofit Champions. Kyle Flynn is based in  Sligo/Leitrim and Owen McConnon in Monaghan/Cavan. They will play a key role in their  communities and offer support to groups and individuals who are exploring options available to  them.  

Community led approach 

Across the communities of the four counties, a number of events and information evenings will  take place. At these events, the Retrofit Champions will discuss what retrofitting options are  available to homeowners, the new grants which are coming available and will also connect the  homeowners with the suppliers in their areas. We expect the Retrofit Champions to play a key  role in removing the barriers to retrofitting for many individuals. They will develop supports,  tools, know-how and approaches to empower local communities with the knowledge they need  to effectively take climate action. 

The Partners Involved

The Retrofit Ready Initiative is led by the Irish Local Development Network, and consists of four  of our border Local Development Companies: Sligo LEADER Partnership, Leitrim Development  Company, Cavan County Local Development and Monaghan Integrated Development. Technical  expertise is supplied by Plan Energy and ATU Sligo. Pobal administer the funding on behalf of  the Department of Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport  

The Retrofit Launch 

Jim Finn, Chairperson of the ILDN was the MC for the event and began his address by reminding people how valuable community is when it comes to instigating the change that is  needed in climate matters.  

Community is at the heart of all we do, and the engine which drives progress, which drives  change; in moving toward more sustainable living, national policies need to have life breathed  into them at local level, by local communities – and this is where local development companies are essential. 

Dr Carol Baumann, the CEO of the ILDN spoke to the important role that local development  companies play in removing barriers to retrofitting and indeed other environmental issues such  as biodiversity loss. She highlighted how local development is about the ‘how’ of everything  and by putting community at the heart of development, we can achieve important goals. 

Paul Skinnader, Executive Director at Pobal, who administer the funding on behalf of the  Department of Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport spoke of the importance  of the community driven approach to initiatives, how these programmes are so important and  how inclusivity is central to this scheme which ‘leaves no-one behind’.  

Gavin Forkan, CEO of Plan Energy shared the details of the programme itself. There are  approximately 110,000 households across Leitrim, Sligo, Monaghan and Cavan that they are  targeting. He outlined the number of ways that the initiative removes barriers facing these  households. He spoke about how they are building capacity at local level, providing technical  support to Community Retrofit Champions and offering a ‘Learning by Doing’ approach to their  work. 

Úna Parsons, Head of College, and John Bartlett, Head of Research of ATU Sligo both spoke to  the significance of ATU as a location for the launch, as one of the first colleges to offer an  environmental science course it was fitting to host the launch of an innovative programme such  as ‘Retrofit Ready’

Finally, Minister Eamon Ryan spoke of the importance of place and how pride of place is  intrinsically linked to its environment.  

‘Government, Industry, Education and Community all have a key role to play’  Eamon Ryan, Minister for Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport 

Funding 

The initiative is part of the Community Climate Action Programme, Strand 2, which focuses on  climate education, capacity building and learning by doing – moving beyond ‘raising awareness’  to building the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to respond to the challenges of  climate change at a community level. 

The consortium is grateful to the Department of the Environment, Climate and  Communications for the funding support, and to Pobal for its administration support, which has  made this work possible.” 

Community Climate Action Programme: Climate Education, Capacity Building and Learning by  Doing (Strand 2), as administered by Pobal. More information on this programme here

Local Development Companies 

Since the early 1990’s, more than three decades ago, local development companies have been  in existence. Established by government, these companies with their Voluntary Boards, now  employ more than 2,500 people, across a range of 35+ programmes.

These companies channel  in excess of €350 million, every year, into their communities through a range of funding  streams from a number of government departments, including DRCD, DSP, Health, in addition to further smaller funding streams. We work closely with Pobal in this work, and we are proud  to provide voice to the community in the changes and challenges facing our society.