COMMUNITY groups and projects in the Tralee Municipal District will receive over €81,000 as part of the Community Support Fund for 2018.

Kerry County Council has announced details of the allocation of €750,000 in funding support for community groups and projects across the county under the Fund.

A total of 255 groups and projects received grant aid worth €320,000 this year while a proportion of the fund, totalling €430,000, is being retained to leverage funding for strategic projects at Municipal District level and to support projects previously supported by the Town Councils.

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Féile na mBláth received the largest single allocation in the district with €20,000. Others who received significant amounts were Friends of Able/Tidy Towns (€8,000), Tralee Tidy Towns (€5,000), Tidy Tralee Together Awards (€4,000), Tidy Tralee Together Grant Scheme (€7,500) and St Patrick’s Day Committee (€8,000). See full list below.

The fund, which is in its fourth year, has now supported over 1,250 projects since 2015 to the value of €3m since its establishment.

Projects in Killarney MD received over €112,250, Listowel MD got €62,452) and South & West Kerry MD projects were allocated €64,452.

As occurred in 2017, some of the Community Support Fund will be used this year to target strategic projects in the four municipal districts and to co-fund projects which are in receipt of grants from other sources.

In 2017, almost €1m was leveraged from other grant sources such as Town and Village Renewal and the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Fund as a result of the strategic allocation of resources under the Community Support Fund. For 2018, the fund was refocussed to target funding under five categories of support:

• Growing and Sustaining Communities
• Community Tidy Towns Initiatives and Amenity Projects
• Community Sport and Physical Activity Programmes
• Community Economic Innovation
• Community Based Tourism, Festivals and Events

The new minimum grant payable in 2018 is €500.