Humphreys announces over €280,000 to help Carlow voluntary groups with energy costs

Over €280,000 has been allocated to local community and voluntary groups in Carlow to help with their running costs. 

It's part of a €10million fund announced by the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, and Minister of State, Joe O’Brien, this week.

The Community Support Fund offers support to community centres, parish halls, social clubs, senior citizen groups and men's and women's sheds across Ireland. 

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

Speaking about the news, 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.

She continued: "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." 

Each local authority area has received a baseline amount of funding with the remainder allocated based on the population and disadvantage level. 

Dublin City received the largest allocation of €564,302, followed by South Dublin with €409,835 and Cork County with €362,678 going towards community groups. 

Groups in Leitrim received the lowest amount (€265,201), followed by Longford (€276,585) and Galway City (€276,838). 

The full list of allocations: 

According to Minister Humphreys, the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) will administer the fund on behalf of the Department at local level. 

She said, "I would encourage community groups interested in applying to contact their LCDC over the coming days at the contact numbers provided." 

Groups should contact their LCDC for further details of the fund: 

Also speaking today, Minister O’Brien said:

“In recognition of rising energy costs the Government announced a package of funding supports to business, cultural, health, sporting and C&V organisations in September. We know that many small organisations/groups particularly those who serve in disadvantaged areas may not be able to access these funds.

“These grants will help thousands of community organisations, clubs, men’s and women’s sheds, youth centres and parish halls, to continue to provide their valuable services to the people in their areas.”  

An application form can be found here.