All charities, sports clubs and community organisations eligible to apply for funding

 A five year campaign by Mayor of Drogheda Cllr. Paddy Mc Quillan came to a successful conclusion this week when management at the Irish Cement plant at Platin told him they will soon be launching their ‘Community Gains Fund’ and that charities, services and sports organisations in Drogheda and surrounding areas will be eligible to apply for funds.

At the outset of his campaign in August 2019, Councillor Paddy Mc Quillan told Drogheda Life that a community fund worth up to half a million Euro a year proposed by Irish Cement at Platin should be made available to community organisations in Drogheda unlike a similar fund run by their neighbour Indaver which is only open to groups based in County Meath.

The fund came about at the behest of An Bord Pleanala as a condition of the planning permission granted to the company to increase the amount of “alternative fuels” they burn at the Platin factory they must they give €1 for every tonne they use.

“This fund will be similar to the community fund in operation at Indaver” said the delighted Mc Quillan. “Unlike Indaver however, all charities, services and sports organisations in Drogheda and its surrounding areas will be eligible to apply for funds. 

When the Community Gains Fund is running at full capacity it will have hundreds of thousands of euro for local organisations to apply for.

“I first raised this issue with Platin in 2020. As part of the planning stipulation, it stated that that organisations in the “general catchment area” would qualify to apply for funding from this community gains fund” Mc Quillan said.

“Initially Platin were reluctant to state publicly that Drogheda County Louth was in their catchment area because the planning authority, Meath County Council, will operate the fund,” said Paddy

“All organisations in Drogheda, apart from one or two, have expressed their frustration at being unable to apply for funds from Indaver because they are deemed not to be in its catchment area.

“I wanted to ensure this would not happen with Platin’s community gains fund. I organised a small consortium of services in Drogheda to work together on this whereby we approached Platin together.

“I explained at length that the services and charities we have in Drogheda serve not only the people of Drogheda County Louth, but all neighbouring villages and towns in Louth and Meath. I urged Platin to state that Drogheda County Louth was in their catchment area and so eligible to qualify to apply for funding.”

It was a long journey involving many meetings with senior management of Irish Cement, but McQuillan’s perseverance paid off. “I am delighted to hear that Platin recognise this is the right thing to do.  They are stating that organisations with addresses in Drogheda County Louth are in their general catchment area and are not excluded from applying for funding from their Community Gains Fund.

“This is a real and lasting stream of funding for local organisations for the future. I would like to thank senior management in Irish Cement for their understanding and support with this.  It’s a great result for all concerned.

See our article from 2019:

Drogheda groups must be eligible for Platin community fund - McQuillan