Additional funding of €144,886 has been awarded to Kilkenny Community Groups under the 2018 Community Enhancement Scheme.

Kilkenny Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) initially awarded €136,300 in July, before announcing additional funds.

The extra allocation enabled Kilkenny LCDC to award top up grants to 49 community groups which did not receive the full amount of their original grant requests.

The funding was made possible by the allocation of the Department of Rural and Community Development. The programme aims to address disadvantaged areas and targeted groups as identified in the Kilkenny Local Economic Community Development Plan. Approximately 30% of the funding is directed towards small capital grants of €3,000 or less and the remaining 70% is directed at medium capital grants to a maximum of €10,000.

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Speaking at the award of the grants Fergus Keane, Chair of Kilkenny LCDC, said: "It was great to see the level of interest in the Community Enhancement Programme and the diversity of applications."

Michael Delahunty, LCDC Chief Officer, added: "The award of 49 grants under the Scheme builds on the recent awards to both rural and urban communities under the CLÁR Scheme where 11 community groups were awarded €303,464 and on the awards under the Council's Community and Cultural Facilities Grants scheme where eight community groups were awarded €250,000 between them. In addition the sum of €652,280 has recently been awarded for five projects under the 2018 Town and Village Renewal Scheme. That's almost €1.5m to urban and rural communities."

(CM)