Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Stanton has discussed men's and women's sheds with me on many occasions. He is a strong advocate for the great work they do.

My Department provides a range of supports which is available to men's and women's sheds. Since 2018, under the community enhancement programme, more than 1,200 men's sheds projects have received funding of over €2 million and 60 women's sheds projects received almost €72,500 in funding.To date, 110 men's sheds have received €174,766 and five women's sheds have received €6,574 in social inclusion and community activation programme supports, SICAP. This support is still is available from SICAP.

The scheme to support national organisations, SSNO, provides multi-annual funding towards core costs of national, community and voluntary organisations. The current iteration commenced on 1 July 2022 and will cease on 30 June 2025. The Irish Men's Sheds Association, IMSA, has been allocated total funding of €243,158 over the three-year period of the scheme. Last November, I was delighted to announce funding of €800,000 to the IMSA to support men's sheds throughout the country. The initiative will see grants of up to €2,000 provided to over 400 men's sheds nationwide to assist them with running costs such as electricity or insurance bills. This funding complements the €100,000 ring-fenced funding I announced last October to support the growing network of women's sheds.

Separately, men's and women's sheds can also apply for funding under the community support fund, CSF, which I launched last November. This €10 million fund was set up to help small community groups with their energy or running costs but will also provide funding for small capital works projects.

See this speech in context