Mayo County Council are still formulating the final plans for the Community Gain Investment Fund of €8.5 million that was a condition of the last granting of planning permission for part of the Corrib gas pipeline.
Declan Turnbull from the Community and Enterprise section of Mayo County Council outiined to the Belmullet Electoral Area Committee this week the proposals for the fund. “I’ve spent most of my time recently meeting community groups and stakeholders in the area about how to divide the fund out. We’ve decided not to close off the submission date from organisations for funding from the project so that everyone will be able to get their submissions in.”
He went on to say that the Cill Chomain area had been marked out as the core area where most of the funding would be used, followed by the greater Erris area and a number of different headings under which the fund would be administered, such as sport and recreation, social and others. He added that it was only when the recent action taken by An Taisce and others against the permission was settled that the fund was secured, as any decision against the permission would have nullified the permission and with it the fund.
The elected members of the committee welcomed the news on the fund and praised Mr Turnbull for his work on it, with Sinn Féin councillor, Rose Conway Walsh saying, “It’s some of what we’re due, it’s significantly less than what the people of Erris are due, but I’ll leave it at that.”
