Clár IRD in Claremorris have been awarded €100,000 from the 2010 Arthur Guinness Fund to develop a community garden.
The voluntary community development organisation was one of 10 organisations awarded money from a €1 million fund.
The community garden will be a model which could be delivered all over the country. The chief focus will be to train people on low incomes to grow their own vegetables and improve their diet and level of exercise.
Not only will this garden provide employment growing food, but an additional dimension will be the creation of the conditions and culture to establish an enterprise providing year round jobs. The programme will utilise local people making a positive contribution to their own lives and to their community to help break the cycle of unemployment. Workers will be selected based on their interest in growing produce and enterprise development and will include long and short term unemployed.
Clár IRD’s Margaret Leahy welcomed the announcement: “With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund we will be able to launch the first commercial community garden in Mayo this year. This model can then be transferred to other communities throughout the country. All that’s needed to start is a plot of suitable land, which is available to most communities around Ireland.
“In addition to the funding, we welcome the access to additional expertise through Diageo Ireland support and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s alumni network, helping us to deliver real and lasting social change.”
