Re-Registration

Leitrim PPN are calling on all existing PPN groups to re-register with us.  This is to ensure all our groups are still active and wish to be engaged with us.  As volunteers move on-and emails and phone numbers change, we need to make sure that we have the correct contact details for our member groups and to also make sure we are complying with GDPR.

A re-registration form has been sent to all groups via email on 14/06/2023.  This is the opportunity to supply us with any new contact information, or indeed, if your group is no longer in existence or does not wish to be part of the PPN network, you can choose the opt out option.  We will update, amend or remove accordingly.  This re-registration process is very important and we urge all members to submit it to us as soon as possible to keep our records correct.  We look forward to hearing from you and working with all member groups as we continue to inform, strengthen and empowers community group.  If you have not received your re-registration form, please email info@leitrimppn.ie

The strength of the PPN relies on the depth and diversity of its membership across community and voluntary groups in Leitrim. We hope that groups will re-confirm their engagement with the PPN and help to fulfill its potential for Co. Leitrim.  Please check to see if the re-registration email was sent to your spam/trash folder instead of your inbox folder.  If you still cannot locate the email, please contact us.

The benefits of joining & being part of Leitrim PPN

• Valuable local and regional networking opportunities (2 gatherings a year at Plenary)
• Greater access to regular community news and information through our social media & e bulletin (every 2 weeks)
• The opportunity to advertise members activities via the PPN e bulletin & social media
• Highlighting of training and funding opportunities, consultations & submissions
• Potential to influence policy making decisions relevant to County Leitrim
• Opportunity to become part of a linkage group which is a group of member stakeholder organisations with a common interest
• Through linkage group representatives on key Committees & Boards an opportunity to have your views heard and contribute to local policy
• The opportunity to nominate members to sit on Boards or Committees or to become an elected PPN representative

PPN Workshop on Climate Action

Is your group interested in participating in an Environment and Climate Change Workshop organised by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on July 1st.

The workshop will generate the basis of a report to be submitted to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment & Climate Change.

Play your part in informing the government about your groups views on climate action, supports required and how best to achieve them going forward.

North - West Regional Workers Meeting

Meeting held on 20th June in Bundoran - Inform, Strengthen and Empower through Participation and Networking

Representation from Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Donegal & Roscommon.

 

Next meeting will be hosted by Leitrim PPN on 19th Sept.

Huge Congrats from Leitrim PPN & Secretariat

Leitrim PPN team and secretariat wish to congratulate Carrick on Shannon Tidy towns as a member group on winning overall best kept town and also winning best kept small town. Well done to all the volunteers involved.

The national SuperValu Tidy Towns competition is an annual contest organised by the Department of Rural and Community Development. The competition is supported by the title sponsor SuperValu and many other agencies.

Reminder - Leitrim's Climate Action Plan 2024

The Climate Action, Environment, Heritage, Biodiversity and Agriculture Linkage Group will meet on Wed 12th July 7.30pm in Leitrim Development Company to discuss the feedback and the resulting submission to go to Leitrim County Council.

 

The  document below “Discussion Doc Climate Action Leitrim” highlights the issues and opportunities for Leitrim, while also providing an overview of our emission and climate risk profile and some key themes and questions and may be helpful when forming a submission. 

 

2023 Childminding Development Grant Opens

The Childminding Development Grant provides up to €1,000 to assist childminders who are providing a childminding service in their own homes.

The Grant aims to support the enhancement of quality and safety in the service through the purchase of toys, childcare equipment, safety equipment, and equipment to support inclusion and STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths).

It is open to registered and unregistered childminders as well as those who are planning to open a childminding business in 2023.
For more information contact: Aoife O'Neill, Childminding Development Officer at aoife@leitrimchildcare.ie

National Age Friendly Recognition and Achievement Awards

The primary aim of these awards is to recognise and reward achievement in age friendly initiatives around Ireland. We are calling for organisations, individuals/members of the public, agencies and communities to submit applications on projects or programmes that they consider to be age friendly, especially those initiatives that support older people.
This year, eight categories of awards, aligning to the WHO themes, have been chosen as they have a meaningful impact on the lives of older people in Ireland.
This is a reminder that the closing date for any National Age Friendly Recognition and Achievement Awards submissions is the FRIDAY, 30TH JUNE AT 1PM.
Again, we would encourage you to submit at least one entry for a project/initiative in your area that you feel should be considered for recognition at the Awards.

Additional Reliefs for Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles under the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme

The new reliefs provide up to €48,000 for disabled drivers and €32,000 for disabled passengers. This will be applicable to those who have borne or paid VAT, VRT or residual VRT on or after 1st August 2022.

The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons as a driver or as a passenger and also to certain charitable organisations. In order to qualify for relief, the applicant must hold a Primary Medical Certificate issued by the relevant Senior Area Medical Officer (SAMO) or a Board Medical Certificate issued by the Disabled Driver Medical Board of Appeal. Certain other qualifying criteria apply in relation to the vehicle, in particular that it must be specially constructed or adapted for use by the applicant.

International Decade for People of African Descent Funding Call

The closing date for receipt of applications for the International Decade for People of African Descent Funding Call has been extended until 12pm Thursday, 20th July.

This funding is up to a maximum of €5,000 for each approved Event.

Leitrim allocated €25,575 in Agricultural Show Funding

Minister Humphreys announces record €1 million investment in Agricultural Shows.

Small Sparks Arts & Business Collaborations

Small Sparks is a project where Leitrim businesses of any size and function can work with an artist for three weeks to explore common interest and opportunities for how creative activity can carry benefit for both the company and the artist.

The programme is a further development of Spark, a 6-month artist-in-residence programme developed by Leitrim County Council’s Arts Office and Local Enterprise Office for companies that are interested in collaborating with artists and promoting creativity within their organisation, and artists that are interested in exploring how their thinking, knowledge and practice can have relevance and impact in different environments.

Small Sparks provides three companies that wouldn’t normally work with artists with the opportunity to dip their toe in the water, explore the opportunity, and to see what can be gained from doing so. For artists, Spark provides the opportunity undertake work inspired by the company.

Participating companies in 2023 are -

The Oarsman, Carrick on Shannon

Drumhierny Woodland Hideaway, Battlebridge

Mud Bugs, Newtowngore

Closing Date for expression of interest: Sunday 9th July 2023

Site Visit: Wednesday 12th July 2023

Closing Date for receipt of proposals: Sunday 6th August 2023

Residency Period: August - December 2023

Host a Coding Event for Young People

Meet and Code is back in Ireland for 2023, and charities can apply for a grant to host a virtual coding event for young people during September or October.

Meet & Code fund digital and coding events of all kinds — from IT workshops to robotics courses and events with trendsetting subjects like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT)

Submissions are now open but and will close on 13 September 2023.

Grant numbers are limited, and events are funded on a first-come-first-served basis, so apply early!

If you have any questions, please email ireland@meet-and-code.org for details.

Attention Community Groups

Leitrim County Council will be hosting one to one Funding Clinics, where a member of staff will be available to provide guidance to community groups on how to complete funding applications. The Funding Clinics will be located in Carrick on Shannon, Manorhamilton and Ballinamore.  All are welcome to attend.  Booking is required.  E-mail funding@leitrimcoco.ie, please state your preferred location in the subject line.

Grant Writing Tips & Tricks

Every time we ask groups what help they need, support to make funding applications always come up.  Sligo PPN are working in partnership with Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd and Sligo Volunteer Centre to host Emma Murtagh from The Wheel who will be delivering a session on 26th June giving you all the tips & tricks you need to make a successful application

Topic: Grant Writing Tips and Tricks

Time: Jun 26, 2023 07:00 PM Dublin (Zoom)

Training description:

This “Grant Writing Tips and Tricks” training session will introduce you to the fundamentals of grant writing, including practical steps you can take to prepare for success, analysing grant opportunities, the project development process, and tips on writing winning proposals. It is ideal for those just starting their grant writing journey or as a refresher course for more experienced funding professionals.

This session is also an opportunity to learn about supports available to community and voluntary organisations trying to access funding, including FundingPoint and the Access Europe programme.

Speaker Bio:

Emma Murtagh is the Senior EU Programmes Manager at The Wheel and has a background in grant writing, project design, and project management. She specialises in EU funding, but is experienced in a wide variety of grants, large and small. Since 2017, she has successfully secured projects with an overall value of over €3 million.

Thanks to our colleagues in Sligo PPN for allowing us share this with Leitrim PPN member groups.

If you wish to join the zoom please email info@leitrimppn.ie and we will forward you the zoom link.

Charity Excellence Awards

The Charity Excellence Awards aim to highlight and reward excellence within the charity sector.  The categories reflect the full spectrum of those who work within the sector in charities big and small, from trustees to fundraisers, members of the finance team to your corporate partners.

Entries close June 30th.

European Natura 2000 Awards open for applications 

The European Commission recently launched the 2024 edition of the European Natura 2000 Award. The biannual Award, now in its seventh edition, honours leading nature conservation achievements connected to the Natura 2000 network. It is open to any organisation or person involved in Natura 2000, including public and local authorities, businesses, NGOs, landowners, educational institutions and individuals. There are five categories: Cross-border cooperation, Working together for nature, Communication, Marine conservation, and Conservation on land.  Applications are open until 29 September 2023. 

Community Foundation Ireland & VOICE Ireland: Training and Grants offered to #BeatPlasticPollution

Community Foundation Ireland and environmental campaigners VOICE Ireland are giving local groups access to expertise, training and funding to embrace the principles of the circular economy in the work that they do by eliminating waste, encouraging reuse and regenerating nature.

Local groups will be supported through Online Training , resource packs and access to experts to develop Community Circular Economy Action Plans which will be supported by grants of up to €2,500.

€16 million is available for outdoor recreation projects across the country

The 2023 Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) will invest in facilities for walking, hiking, cycling, swimming, kayaking, sailing, paragliding, kite-surfing and more.

The Measures being funded under ORIS 2023 are as follows.

Leitrim Community Support Fund Grants Announced

Under the scheme Leitrim secured €265,201 in funding and in total 144 groups will benefit from the scheme. Funding will help with non-pay running costs such as utility bills (electricity costs, refuse charges, heating charges) or other non-pay operating costs for e.g. rental/lease costs, insurance bills.  Grants have also been awarded to carry out necessary repairs and improvements to community facilities, purchase equipment for e.g. such as tables and chairs, tools and signage, laptops and printers, and training equipment.

Congrats from Leitrim PPN & Secretariat to all the groups in Leitrim who got funding.

Interreg NWE - Call for small-scale projects

The call for small-scale projects will be open for all 9 Programme Specific Objectives.

For each Programme Specific Objective (SO) dedicated factsheets exist. The factsheets provide a summary of the territorial challenges and opportunities, objectives, target groups, activities, and results.

• Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience taking into account ecosystem-based approaches
• Enhancing nature protection, biodiversity and reducing all forms of pollution
• Promoting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Promoting renewable energy
• Promoting the transition to a circular and resource efficient economy
• Developing and enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies
• Enhancing the effectiveness and inclusiveness of labour markets and access to quality employment through developing social infrastructure and promoting social economy
• Ensuring equal access to health care and fostering resilience of health systems, including primary care, and promoting the transition from institutional to family-and-community-based care
• Enhancing the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion and social innovation

Deadline 12th July

baSE Survey

The Wheel is working on a European partnership project called baSE (Blueprint for advanced skills & trainings in the social economy). The project aims to map and support the skills of workers in the community and voluntary sector across Europe.  

As part of this project, a survey was designed in collaboration with 24 other organisations across Europe to identify skills and competences needed for the challenges of green transition, digitalization, and inclusivity and for day-to-day work in our sector. 

The Wheel need to collect as many answers as possible, from a variety of organisations and roles to develop the most suitable trainings to fill in the skills gap in our sector.  So today we are asking you to help us understand your training and skills needs by filling in a short online survey.  Once you have filled it in, please share it with colleagues in your organisation, or your staff if you are a manager. 

What’s in it for you? 

The opportunity to support the development of relevant training for people who work in the community and voluntary sector; 

Free access to the future training delivered in the project to reskill or upskill sector workers; 

Be an active member of the Social Economy at European level. 

Manorhamilton Community CCTV Scheme – Public Consultation

Manorhamilton Community CCTV is a community led initiative to upgrade the current public CCTV system for Manorhamilton. Manorhamilton Enterprise Forum, supported by Leitrim County Council, are progressing plans for upgrading the current Community CCTV Scheme in the town.

Part of the process for upgrading the scheme is to seek approval for same from the Garda Commissioners Office. Public consultation is a key element of this process.

Manorhamilton Enterprise Forum therefore invite interested parties to provide feedback on the upgrading of the Community CCTV Scheme to:

cctvconsultation@leitrimcoco.ie. Feedback received will assist in completing the necessary submission.

Details of the upgraded design are available in Manorhamilton CCTV Scheme

The public consultation will be open from Wednesday June 21st until Wednesday July 5th.

National Survey on Festivals and Digitisation

TU Dublin have developed a survey to generate insight into the digital upskilling and capacity building needs of festival makers across Ireland. The anonymised data will be shared with Creative Ireland, the Arts Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development.

LCC's Climate Action Plan Pre Draft online survey

Leitrim County Council are requesting your views, observations and recommendations for consideration in the preparation of the draft Climate Action Plan. 

Ecosystem Restoration for Community Groups – 26th and 27th August

Síolta Chroí are running a course aiming it at how community group can play your part to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss by creating systems that sequester carbon, builds biodiversity and restores the ecosystem that you are part. 
Accommodation can be arranged for people traveling from outside of Monaghan.

SAVE THE DATE: Webinar on County Outdoor Recreation Plans 

Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors, the new National Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2023-2027 was launched in November. The Strategy was developed in collaboration with Comhairle na Tuaithe and is a collaborative cross-Government, stakeholder-led strategy. It reflects the views of stakeholders, the public and the whole of Government and it sets the stage to strengthen and support the sustainable development of the outdoor recreation sector in Ireland for years to come.

The delivery of Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors requires a joined-up and cohesive approach to the development of outdoor recreation infrastructure  and the management of outdoor recreation activity at both a national and county level. 

Action 1.12 of Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors specifically calls for the development of a County Outdoor Recreation Plan.  As referenced on Page 8 of the Strategy under the Strategic Objective: Leadership the County Outdoor Recreation Plan should be developed through a collaborative process:

“At county level, our ambition is to achieve a more planned and coordinated approach between the many stakeholders, with the introduction of a County Outdoor Recreation Committee and the development of an Outdoor Recreation Plan for each county. This will ensure that county needs are prioritised, as well as being aligned with the national strategy. This new structure will be best placed to ensure that value for money is achieved from the significant levels of public investment in outdoor recreation. In addition, it is our ambition to ensure that available funding and resources are better aligned with national and county priorities.”

Guidance for the development of the County Outdoor Recreation Plans is now being finalised and we expect to publish these by the end of the month.

The Department of Rural & Community Development/Outdoor Recreation Unit will be hosting a webinar on the development of County Outdoor Recreation Plans on Thursday 6th July, 10am-12pm.

Leitrim/ Sligo Sustainable Energy Communities Webinar

Learn about two new projects that are being run in the Leitrim/Sligo region; Retrofit Ready and the Sligo Leitrim Energy Agency. Both projects have been established to support communities.

Online Summer Camp for Teenagers (Nationwide – ages 13-15)

Register for their FREE Online Summer Camp specially designed for teens (age 13-15) living with a lifelong physcial health condition, where they can join in on the workshop from home or even from their hospital bed!

Artist, Emma Fisher, will deliver a 3 day animation and storytelling camp, July 4th, 5th & 6th with morning and afternoon times available.

You will receive everything you need, in advance of the camp, through activity sheets dropped in your inbox with step-by-step guides, surprise postal drops, art materials and virtual sharing.
Email hello@helium.ie to request a booking form. 

Regional Development Strategies

Last month, Fáilte Ireland officially launched Fáilte Ireland’s Regional Tourism Development Strategies at Mount Congreve Gardens, Waterford.  The 4 regional strategies cover Ireland’s Ancient East, Wild Atlantic Way, Dublin and Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands and provide a blueprint for the development of sustainable tourism, helping unlock the commercial potential of each region and enhance our tourism offering, for domestic and international visitors.

Fáilte Ireland is pleased to support the new Leave No Trace Ireland campaign which launched last week.  The campaign asks the public to #LoveThisPlace and leave spaces as they are found when enjoying the outdoors this summer.

Climate Camp coming to Leitrim

This years Climate Camp takes place in Leitrim near Manorhamilton, August 9th-13th.  Leitrim has been a hub of resistance to fossil fuel and extractive industries. 

This is Dairying Photo Competition

The ‘This is Dairying’ photo competition aims to highlight the multiple things that make Irish dairying great!

Entries might feature the importance of family on the farm and the dedication to future generations in dairying. Or snap a photo showing farmers’ pride in their herds and commitment to raising healthy calves. Or you could share the amazing landscapes and views you get to see every day at work.

Prize Details 

The prize details for the 'This is Dairying' Photo Competition are as follows:

Overall Winner will receive €500 in One4All Vouchers.

First runner up will receive €250 in One4All Vouchers.

Five remaining finalists will be chosen to each receive €50 One4All vouchers.

Get Ireland Growing Day

Get Ireland Growing Day was launched in 2021, and each year, we use it as a chance to urge everyone to engage in a positive food-growing action. This year, we’re excited to see not just individuals but also businesses across Ireland joining in support of Get Ireland Growing Day. They’re lending their voices to help spread our message and encouraging their employees to participate in sustainable actions. This collective effort is vital in extending our reach and impact, helping to make Ireland a greener, more sustainable place.

So how can you get involved? By growing! You can grow whatever you like (we recommend our Salads GROWBox as a good starting point) and sign up here to be part of GIY’s Get Ireland Growing 12-week growing challenge. Falling on the summer solstice on the 21st of June, Get Ireland Growing Day will mark the beginning of a 12-week growing journey where GIY will help Ireland to grow. You’ll receive a weekly email packed with growing tips and tricks, as well as tips on how you can live more sustainably through small actions within your daily life. Show us what your growing on social media with the hashtag #GetIrelandGrowing.