Laois village grateful for more than €1.4 mill to realise dream

The Durrow Development Forum has extended thanks to all who have helped secured a huge funding injection that should deliver a vital new hub that could play a major part in the village's future.

Durrow Development Forum say they are delighted that their grant application to Government for support has yielded  €1,456,983.00 for the Durrow Community Enterprise Centre. The funding came as a result of an application to the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.

The Forum issued a statement explaining some of the background.

"The need for the centre was raised as part of the consultation process for the 2019-2023 community plan, which identified community space, arts space and remote working/co-working space as a priority to serve the town and the wider hinterland," they said.

The Forum also outlined their aims for the new building which will be constructed beside the former Methodist Hall.

"The Centre will be primarily a hub for co-working and remote workers and a hub to promote arts, heritage and cultural activities. It will also support existing and new organisations by providing accessible meeting and events space and will also accommodate training and educational programmes targeted at young people," they said.

The community also extended thanks to people who they say have played a big role in securing the funding.

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank Chief Executive John Mulholland, Ken Morley SEE, Tom O’Leary and the full team in Laois County Council with their assistance in this grant application and also to our local councillors and politicians for their support in the background and for following up on the application over the past months with Minister Heather Humphreys.

"Durrow Development Forum would also like to express our thanks to our hard-working committee and our volunteers and also all the businesses, residents, clubs and organisations and also to Laois Partnership Company for their continued support of all our projects over the years," they said.

While the grant represents a big step forward, the Forum explained that the application requires match funding. While the Forum have been working on funding over the past few years with the Durrow Scarecrow Festival, they expect to continue to have to do so over the coming years to facilitate this build for the community. 

 igures published by the Department of Rural and Community Development put the total cost of the project is €1.82 million.   Work on the project began before the pandemic when the Durrow Community Forum secured the hall and the adjacent former Civil Defence building which would be demolished.

Delight in Laois as €1.45 million secured for community enterprise centre

The ambitious project will see the build a large two-storey extension built onto the hall.