Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of supports which are available to Men's Sheds, depending on the works being completed.

Last November, I was delighted to announce funding of €800,000 to support Men’s Sheds throughout the country with running costs, such as electricity and insurance bills. This fund is now closed and the individual grants of up to €2,000 were distributed to the Men’s Sheds via its representative body, the Irish Men’s Sheds Association (IMSA).

Separately, the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) has provided supports to 281 Men’s Sheds since 2018, with small grants totalling over €198,000 awarded to 119 Men’s Sheds. This support is still available through 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 operate until 30 June 2025. The Irish Men’s Sheds Association has been allocated total funding of €243,158 over the three year period of the scheme.

And finally, Men's Sheds were eligible to apply for funding under the Community Support Fund (CSF) that was announced last November under the Community Enhancement Programme (CEP). The €10 million CSF was set up to help small community groups with their energy/running costs but also to provide funding for small capital works projects. The CSF is now closed and details of successful Men’s Sheds is available at www.gov.ie/DRCD. Since 2018, over €2.2 million in funding was allocated to Men’s Sheds under the CEP.

Groups are encouraged to engage with their Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs), Local Development Companies and Public Participation Networks (PPN) to ensure they are aware of funding opportunities as they become available.