Funding of €290,000 has been announced today (Wednesday, July 5), for 24 local community groups and organisations to support projects under the Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme.

Minister of State for heritage and Eelectoral Rreform, Malcolm Noonan announced the funding to encourage "local initiatives to conserve and revitalise raised and blanket bogs".

The scheme primarily supports community-led projects and volunteer groups, which play a "vital role" in helping to promote and implement peatland conservation and restoration.

The funding has been operating since 2018, and projects approved in 2023 include:

The development and maintenance of bog walking trails;
Conducting surveys to inform peatland restoration management plans;
Art installations;
Public outreach, such as the production of information booklets, brochures and training manuals, awareness and education days, education programmes, and hosting of seminars with expert speakers;
Invasive species training and management.

Projects to benefit from this funding in 2023 span across Ireland including counties: Galway; Westmeath; Kildare; Longford; Offaly; Kerry; Cavan; Monaghan; Louth; Tipperary; Limerick; Laois; Cork; Donegal; and Dublin.

Examples of projects funded so far this year are:

Education and awareness packages, a bog day, video design, and craft workshops/classes held by St. Kilian’s Heritage Trust, Co. Cavan, which received €9,750;
A family fun day for national biodiversity week held by Newtownforbes Tidy Towns, Co. Longford, which received €1,500;
A feasibility study at Clonbeale More Bog in Co. Offaly, which received €3,498.

Minister Noonan said: "This funding will support the work that local communities and volunteers do as custodians of our natural heritage.

"Our peatlands are places of serenity and a wonderful showcase of what nature has to offer hosting a huge variety of plants, supporting animals and rare species who have adapted to life in the bogs."