Grants for community groups and halls to offset energy bills

Funding of €314,415 is being made available for community centres, parish halls and voluntary groups across County Meath to help offset their heating bills as part of a new scheme announced today.

Local groups are being encouraged to apply for a share of the €314,415 funding pot allocated for Meath with applications opening on Monday and closing on Friday, 2nd December.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, and Minister of State Joe O'Brien, announced details of the €10 million fund today.

The Community Support Fund will provide small grants to a wide and diverse range of local community groups to assist with their running costs.

Funding will be available to support parish halls, community centres, local development associations, social clubs, ICA groups, senior citizen groups, men’s sheds, women’s sheds and much more.

The new scheme includes groups that operate from parish halls and who need support with running costs such as energy or insurance bills.

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.

Announcing the funding today, Minister Humphreys said: “Like everybody else, community groups are not immune from rising prices. This new scheme is about supporting these groups with their costs whether it’s the electricity bill, insurance costs or other overheads.

“As Minister for Rural and Community Development, I fully appreciate the fantastic work carried out by volunteers in communities across the country whether it’s the local Parish Hall Committee, the Development Association or the local Senior Citizens Group.

“These local committees work hard to make sure they can keep the lights on and run fantastic local services and events for young and old to enjoy.

“In making this €10m Fund available today, I want to support these groups to make sure they can continue doing this great work on the ground in communities across the country. These will be small grants ranging from a few hundred euro to a few thousand euro but I know they will make a big difference to the groups involved."

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