The Erris area and Kilcommon in particular has seen an allocation of €875,000 this year in local projects under the Community Gain Investment Fund which was part of the planning permission for the Corrib Gas project. Declan Turnbull from the Community and Enterprise section of Mayo County Council which manages the fund, gave the members of the Belmullet Electoral Area Committee an update on the progress made this year with the fund. Along with the €875,000 allocated so far this year, he also informed the meeting there were three other programme groups that still had to be allocated funding this year, and he hoped that these groups would see funding allocated by the end of September.
Sinn Féin councillor Rose Conway Walsh complimented the work done by Turnbull and his colleagues, and said: “It’s great to see that the people in Kilcommon are being made the priority with these funds as they are the ones who have been most affected and put out by this project.” She also said it was very important that any playground projects completed under this scheme were suitable for children with special needs.
Turnbull outlined one of the major projects that is being funded by the scheme, which is a community centre for the Pollathomais area which does not currently have one. He told the meeting an investigation had been carried out into constructing one from scratch on a site near the national school, but it appeared too costly. A vacant house near the site had been identified and the fund was giving a large payment towards the purchase of the house and its conversion for the people of the locality.
