*Shannon Gaels GAA Club.
SIX GAA clubs in Clare have been included among the 227 nationally deemed eligible to apply for funding for electric vehicle charge points.
€15m in funding is to be provided on the island of Ireland for sports clubs to install new EV Chargers on their grounds for their members and visitors.
In Clare, Clooney/Quin, Inagh/Kilnamona, Shannon Gaels, St Joseph’s Miltown, Whitegate and Wolfe Tones na Sionna were deemed successful after submitting their applications.
Successful clubs can now draw down funding to cover the cost of installing electric vehicle charge points at sports club facilities affiliated to recognised national governing bodies.
Eligible clubs will be able to draw down funding for the installation of electric vehicle charging, subject to reaching agreement with a Charge Point operator from a pre-approved panel. This is expected to see an important ramping up of public EV charging in local communities across the island and offer the potential for clubs to generate income from those more commercially attractive sites.
The Scheme is funded through the Government’s Shared Island Initiative and ZEVI infrastructure funding. In total, 48 clubs from across Northern Ireland and 179 from Ireland are now eligible to move to the next stage in the process.
Lisdoonvarna based Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) praised the Clare clubs who submitted applications. “I believe it is a good ongoing incentive and support is needed and would be beneficial to encourage all public amenities to install similar infrastructure”.
He gave specific mention to St Joseph’s Miltown for partnering with Miltown Malbay Development Company who were approved €20,000 for an energy master plan plus €30,000 from the climate action funding investment.
295 application in total were received for the scheme, of these, 227 met qualifying and suitability criteria and are now eligible to apply for the final phase of the scheme. The main reasons some applications were unsuccessful were not satisfying some minimum requirements including no license submitted to facilitate site visits, no 3-phase electricity and/or no toilet facilities on site or within 500m.
