Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The emergence of Men’s Sheds has been a very positive development for communities across Ireland and my Department is fully committed to supporting Men's Sheds in the valuable work they do.

My Department provides funding to Men's Sheds under various funding supports, including:

• The €7 million Local Enhancement Programme (LEP) 2025, the results of which I will be announcing shortly;
• The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2024 - 2028 ; and
• The LEADER programme.

Men’s Sheds can apply individually for all of these schemes.

In addition to these schemes, my Department has provided funding through the Irish Men’s Sheds Association (IMSA) to distribute directly to Men’s Sheds. I recently met with the IMSA to discuss their funding going forward. On 23rd May, I was pleased to announce a financial package of €1 million to support Men's Sheds this year, which will enable the IMSA to distribute grants of up to €3,000 to Men's Sheds across the country.

Multi-annual funding is also provided to the IMSA through the Scheme to Support National Organisations (SSNO). The IMSA has been allocated total funding of €283,684 over the three-and-a-half-year period of the current scheme. A new iteration of the scheme will be available in 2026.

I would also advise all Men's Sheds to link in with their Local Community Development Committees and to engage with my Departments website (www.gov.ie/drcd) to ensure they are aware of any funding streams that may also be available to them.