Two Westmeath charities which support people with disabilities and mental ill-health are to benefit from combined grant funding of over €100,000.
Under a new round of ‘innovation grants’ announced by Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health, John Moloney, Irish Autism Action in Westmeath is to receive €75,000, while the Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary/ Muiríosa Foundation in Westmeath will benefit from €29,377 in funding.
The Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary/ Muiríosa Foundation in neighbouring Offaly has also been allocated funding of €68,701.
Thirty-five initiatives across the country are to benefit from a total of almost €2.7 million under the grants, while a second round of grants is to be announced in September.
The grants were awarded by the Genio Trust, and follow the decision by the Minister in December 2009 to allocate €3 smillion of innovation health funding to the Trust for a special fund designed to encourage innovative, personalised supports which offer better opportunities to people with disabilities and mental ill health to reach their full potential.
Some 383 applications were submitted from across Ireland, from initiatives based in both rural and urban settings, spanning different types and levels of disabilities and mental ill health, and reflecting different phases of the life cycle, from children and young people to adults.
“There has been overwhelming interest from organisations both small and large across Ireland,” the Minister said. “The high standard of applications to the fund has brought into sharp focus the appetite and ability for creating innovative and sustainable initiatives in this country, in the provision of self-directed and inclusive supports.”
