Coastal community projects in Galway will benefit from almost €600,000 in grant aid from the western Fisheries Local Action Group.
Forty five coastal community projects in Galway have been awarded €597,274 in grants backing a total investment of just under a million euro including private funding.
The grants are co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union under Ireland’s European Maritime & Fisheries Fund Operational Programme for the seafood sector.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed announced on Sunday that grants of €4 million have been awarded from the 7 FLAGs, supporting a total investment of €6.4 million.
More than 400 applications were received under this round of the EMFF Operational Programme, of which 274 projects were approved for funding.
The grants awarded in to coastal community groups and businesses in Galway range in size from €51,816 for Killary Adventure Co. down to €2,000 aid for the Connemara Mussel Festival.
Other groups which received backing from the programme include €20,000 for Galway Hooker 2020 to help them restore the ‘Loveen’, €34,640 for the Aran Islands Theatre, and €38,679 given to the Port of Galway Sea Scouts for marine equipment and a boat storage facility.
“Ireland’s 7 FLAGs are providing a wonderful source of investment for local seafood and marine projects in our coastal communities,” Minister Creed said.
Since the present FLAG scheme was launched in 2017 over 800 coastal community projects have benefited from EMFF funding.
The Minister went on to say that the high number of projects approved shows “both the quality of the projects and the hard work of the local communities through the seven FLAG Boards”.
