The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) has this week allocated €856,260 in funding to 40 community groups in 19 counties under the ‘Catchment Support Fund Open Call 2025’.
€32,927 has been awarded across three community groups in Cork – the Cork River Alliance Group – Stream 1 (€500); Friends of the Dripsey Rivers – Stream 1 (€500), along with StreamScapes CLG – Stream 2 (€25,250).
The Maigue Rivers Trust in county Limerick has been allocated €6,950 for Core Funding & Organisational Funding (Stream 1 & Stream 2). The Maigue catchment covers an area of over 1,000 square kilometers stretching from near Charleville in North Cork to the Shannon Estuary, taking in almost a third of county Limerick along with areas of Co. Tipperary and Cork
LAWPRO works on behalf of Ireland’s 31 local authorities to protect and restore good water quality in our river catchments. Over €500,000 was awarded to 37 organisations in 2024 and this year’s allocation will help build the capacity of non-governmental organisations focussed on water quality by providing funding to enable them to achieve their goals.
The funding will support a diverse range of projects nationwide including river and catchment conservation, community engagement and biodiversity enhancement. This is an important part of Ireland’s Water Action Plan, the roadmap to restore Ireland’s waterbodies to ‘good’ status or better, and to protect against further deterioration between 2023 and 2027.
It aims to do this through an “integrated catchment management approach”, which means understanding the area, water uses, potential threats and bringing together science and communities.
