STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Borris-in-Ossory community plan was launch in late 2018. Picture Alf Harvey
Smaller Laois towns and villages have received more than €170,000 to draw up 'sustainable development' plans but there is a substantial difference between the scale of the grants awarded to different towns.
The plans were made possible by Laois Partnership which has a €7.1 million budget through the LEADER programme until to 2020. The money comes from Irish taxpayers and the EU.
Details of the LEADER grants approved so far shows 12 plans were funded under two categories - 'rural towns' and 'basic services for hard to reach areas'.
The difference in the grant sizes ranges from more than €4,700 for a Ballinakill to more than €26,300 for a plan secured by Durrow.
| Project Name | Applicant | GRANT |
| Community Plan for Ballinakill | Ballinakill Tidy Towns | €4,737.96 |
| Community Plan for Ballybrittas | Courtwood GAA | €25,461 |
| Community Plan for Borris-in-Ossory | Borris-in-Ossory Development Association | €7,749 |
| Community Plan for Cullohill | Cullohill Community Council | €14,391.50 |
| Community Plan for Camross | Camross Parish Development Assoc | €14,944.50 |
| Community Plan for Durrow | Durrow Tidy Towns | €26,346.60 |
| Community Plan for Errill | Errill Vision Group | €15,075 |
| Community Plan for Killlenard | Killenard Community Centre | €7,638.30 |
| Community Plan for Killeshin | Killeshin Community Centre | €21,505.50 |
| Community Plan for Stradbally | Stradbally Community Development | €5,472 |
| Community Plan for Clough-Ballacolla | Clough Vision | €13,500 |
| Plan for Abbeyleix: Action for transition | Abbeyleix Tidy Towns | €4,491 |
| Community Plan for Castletown | Castletown Community Sportsfield Development Committee | €11,623.50 |
| TOTAL | €172,934.4 |
The Leader programme is 63% funded by the EU and 37% funded by the Irish exchequer. In most cases, applicants must provide matching funds.
The national budget for Leader is €250 million.
More than €940,000 has been approved to November 2018 by Laois Partnership to groups and business across Laois.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
