€73k fund shared among South Roscommon groups

Councillors from the Athlone Municipal District in Roscommon have divided a €73,000 fund among 16 community groups in the area.

At an online meeting to discuss the fund last Thursday, the local representatives said the money was being put to good use, even though they would have liked to allocate twice as much to the projects in question.

Certain improvements to Monksland Community Centre, Moore Community Hall and the Padraig Pearses GAA walking track were among the projects awarded funding, while the Midland Polish Community received money to renovate a room that's due to become its meeting space in Drum Community Centre.

The district Cathaoirleach, Cllr Laurence Fallon, said sixteen groups submitted applications for the fund, and all of these groups would now receive some form of support.

The specific amounts being given to each group were hammered out among the councillors at a previous meeting and were then formally approved at the virtual meeting which was held last Thursday morning.

"None of the groups is receiving nearly enough of what they wanted, and that is probably a difficulty for them and was a difficulty for us as well in deciding how best we could allocate the €73,000," said Cllr Fallon.

He added that the money, coupled with other funding sources available to the groups, would help to keep them "alive and active" during this challenging time.

The funding allocations were formally proposed by Cllr John Keogh, who said it was important each of the groups that applied received some funding.

"Having regard to Covid, and the inability of a lot of groups to fundraise, it was important that we would send out the right signal to those groups and give some degree of funding to them. All of the projects were worthy in their own right," he said.

Cllr John Naughten said the 16 groups were spread across various parts of the district.

"The importance of these funds to the groups involved can't be underestimated. It makes a significant difference to delivering on projects," he said.

The newest local councillor, Ballyforan's Emer Kelly, said it was encouraging to see the groups pressing ahead with planned projects despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic.

"As we can see from the applications we've received, these community groups are still persisting through Covid and new groups have begun to emerge, which is great to see for the county," she commented.

Cllr Donal Kilduff also welcomed the funding allocations and said he was hopeful this fund would grow in the years ahead.