Government urged to act on major barriers to Just Transition funding in Offaly

Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has called on the Government to intervene urgently to address what she described as significant obstacles facing communities seeking access to Just Transition funding in the county.

Deputy Nolan pressed the issue in the Dáil on Thursday, urging the State to use “every piece of leverage” available at EU level to prevent the Just Transition process from slipping “further into a web of funding barriers” that she believes are continuing to disadvantage local communities. She argued that the transition process had been “imposed and foisted” on the region without sufficient consultation from the outset.

Nolan also appealed for enhanced supports for Offaly County Council, saying the local authority requires additional resources to help community and voluntary groups navigate what she called a “complicated and onerous” application system for transition funds.

Responding, Tánaiste Simon Harris said he wanted to see central and local government work more closely with communities across the Midlands “to make a fair stab here of the Just Transition Fund,” stressing the need to ensure that benefits are felt on the ground and “bureaucracy is minimised.”

Speaking after the exchange, Nolan highlighted the wider economic pressures facing Offaly, citing job losses following the decline of Bord na Móna as well as the recent announcements of closures at Cardinal Health and Fastway Couriers in Portarlington.

“An air of major uncertainty is starting to creep in in terms of the county’s economic development,” she said. “We must not allow that to take hold.”

She pointed to a recent European Movement Ireland report on the implementation of the Just Transition Fund, saying it reinforced concerns raised by community groups. The report found that funding had been distributed unevenly across counties, with inadequate consultation and persistent barriers preventing communities from fully benefiting.

Nolan said reforms are urgently needed, including a simplified application process and fairer access to funding across the region. While she welcomed the Tánaiste’s commitment to consider how Ireland’s upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union might be used to advance those changes, she noted that any such progress “will not even begin until the second half of next year.”