Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for an expansion of the funding of the circular economy innovation grant scheme in 2025. [49232/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to confirm that the 2025 funding round for the circular economy innovation grant scheme, CEIGS, was launched on 10 September. This scheme is a key driver of Ireland's transition to a circular economy supporting innovative projects led by social enterprises, voluntary and community organisations and small businesses. Since its launch in April 2021, we have awarded €1.8 million to 36 projects while tackling priority areas, such as food waste, plastics, single-use packaging, construction, textiles and general waste.

These projects are delivering real impact from BladeBridge repurposing wind turbines blades into public infrastructure to Happy Earth developing a compostable alternative to medical plastics. From 2025, the scheme will again be administered in partnership with Community Foundation Ireland with €650,000 in total funding available. Individual grants will range from €40,000 to €50,000 enabling a broad range of organisations to scale their ideas and deliver measurable circular outcomes. Projects under this round are expected to focus on plastics, construction circularity, food waste prevention and critical raw material recovery. These are all aligned to Ireland's circular economy strategy and our climate action plan. This scheme is not just about funding; it is also about accelerating innovation, empowering communities and shining a spotlight on many of these scalable solutions so they can be replicated nationwide.

Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the funding that has been spent in this important area. In the most recent round of funding, small commercial start-ups and SMEs dominated the list of companies that had been awarded funding with only two, The Rediscovery Centre and We Make Good, accurately described as community enterprises. While these commercial start-up contributions to the industrial transition to circularity are welcome, and indeed, go a long way to making the changes in mindset that the Minister of State has outlined his answer, there are non-profit social enterprises, such as ones I have visited in County Carlow,: the Be Kind Project, supported by Carlow County Development Partnership and the proposed midlands food retribution hub, which is a joint collaboration between Kilkenny LEADER Partnership and the Clean Technology Centre. They are just two local community enterprises in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny that could benefit not only from the CEIGS, but could also spread awareness of the circularity principles in their communities. While funding remains at a constant level, it is hard for these types of firms to make their case against commercial start-ups with large economic potential. Is consideration being given to expanding the grants going forward?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am in full agreement that we need to continue to scale-up the scheme to sustain the investment by many SMEs and community organisations. That is why at the end of this year we will have allocated over €2.4 million. We need to continue on that trajectory of supporting many of these pioneering projects. I had the opportunity to visit the Irish Manufacturing Research facility in Mullingar to see the work of Circuléire. I have also been to the Rediscovery Centre. Tremendous work is being done, but the question is how we bring that to the next level. That is important because without funding and support, it is difficult. We want to deliver more ambition under this scheme. We look forward to many applicants putting forward their ideas. We have seen over 36 projects being supported last year. I hope we can ensure through a communications campaign that many areas across the country, including the Deputy's constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, can be supported. I welcome any discussions on any projects brought to my attention.

Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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That is music to my ears. I am glad to hear that. I wish to follow up on the Minister of State's point. There has been a large degree of support from the local authorities in Carlow and Kilkenny and they have been proactive with circular economy initiatives. For example, Carlow County Council recently completed a survey of businesses in the county to assess attitudes towards the circular economy and to inform future policy with regards to circularity in the county. Kilkenny County Council adopted a waste action plan from 2024 to 2030 showcasing the centrality of waste management and the circular economy initiatives within its area. That showcases a desire to promote the circular economy locally. As the Minister of State outlined, greater funding opportunities for community enterprises will absolutely align with the goals. However, to date, no organisation with a base in Carlow or Kilkenny has received any funding under the terms of the scheme. On their behalf, I commend the Minister of State on his work to date in the most important area and to encourage him to please continue to be as ambitious as he is in this regard to expand CEIGS funding further.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her interest in this area. It needs to be a bottom-up, top-down led approach. We are looking to publish the draft of the circular economy strategy. A key area of focus will be targeted actions. Local authorities can play a huge part within the local government system. However, we need a stronger uptake around innovation in these areas. We will have a public consultation. We will welcome feedback from businesses, SMEs and many of the social enterprise organisations on what they would like to see this scheme comprising of. We are focusing on textiles, construction and packaging as being key principles in this scheme in terms of areas of priority. We have a journey to go on this. I look forward to building more initiatives within the circular economy in many areas across business and local authorities.