Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The community climate action programme will see more than €60 million from the climate action fund invested in supporting communities to run direct climate action projects and initiatives under strand 1 as well as capacity building under strand 2 of the programme. The 18 projects selected for funding under strand 2 of the programme are currently moving to implementation. This was an open call run by Pobal, worth €5 million, for education, capacity building and learning by doing projects.

Strand 1 was launched on 2 February this year, under which €27 million is being provided to all local authorities to support building low carbon communities in a considered and structured way. Of that €27 million, €24 million is being provided from the climate action fund for strand 1, which supports community and voluntary groups who want to partner with their local authority to implement climate action projects within their local area. A further €3 million is being provided by the shared island fund, which will fund similar types of projects on a cross-Border or whole-island basis, involving community groups and local authorities, in partnership with community groups and local authorities in Northern Ireland.

To encourage participation, part of the strand 1 climate action fund allocation has been ring-fenced to enable each local authority to hire a designated member of staff to implement the programme. Once in place, community climate action officers will engage with community groups on potential projects, assist them in their applications and recommend particular projects for partnership between the local authorities and community groups.

The majority of local authorities have indicated they will have a community climate action officer in place by the end of the second quarter of 2023. I look forward to seeing this important programme progressing, supported by the recruitment of community climate action officers by local authorities and by ongoing engagement with and support from my Department.

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