Council invites Offaly groups to apply for community climate action grants
Offaly County Council is inviting local groups to apply for grants to support "small, medium, and large-scale community climate action projects" in the county.
The local authority has been awarded some €444,000 in funding to support the building of "low-carbon communities" in Offaly as part of Environment Minister Eamon Ryan's community climate action fund.
Council chief executive Anna Marie Delaney explained that, under this strand of funding, the council would "work in partnership with communities, small and large, rural, and urban, within county Offaly, to build low-carbon communities in a considered and structured way."
Under the initiative, small-scale projects can apply to the council for funding support of up to €20,000. This is increased to between €21,000 and €50,000 for "medium-scale projects" and to between €51,000 and €100,000 for large-scale projects.
Ms Delaney said that, separately, a total of €3 million was being made available "to support cross-border and all-island community climate action partnerships between community organisations in the Republic and in Northern Ireland".
Offaly County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick said: "The overall objective of the Community Climate Action Programme is to support and empower communities to shape and build low-carbon, sustainable communities in a coherent way to contribute to national climate and energy targets.
"The programme aims to support small and large, rural and urban, communities to take climate action. The funding is for investment in small, medium, and large-scale community climate action projects."
Community groups are being advised to take note of the five themes covered by the grant, and applications should address a minimum of one of these themes. Applications which include more than one theme are recommended.
The five themes are: Energy, Travel, Food and Waste, Shopping and Recycling, and Local climate and environmental action and any innovative project that is possible to replicate in other communities.
"The Community Climate Action Programme will support the delivery of the new five-year Climate Action Plan for County Offaly which is in development," explained Ms Delaney.
Community Climate Action Officer, Sinead McEvoy outlined how "applications for the Community Climate Action Programme will be made through offaly.ie and the submission portal will open on Wednesday, December 13, and close on March 6, 2024, at 5pm.
For more information on the Community Climate Action Programme, visit: https://www.offaly.ie/climate-action/