The purpose of the Investment Grant-Aid Scheme for Strategic Partners (Local Authorities), administered by Fáilte Ireland, is to deliver grant-aid to the eight Local Authorities within the EU Just Transition Territory to deliver improved tourism infrastructure, facilities and visitor experiences.

In line with Fáilte Ireland’s Investment Grant-Aid Scheme for Private & Community SMEs (scheme B within the EU Just Transition Fund Action 1.1), these Schemes will focus on the areas of Visitor Experience Improvement, Digital Transformation, Digital User Experience, Accessibility and Sustainability & Regenerative Tourism.

Geographical area covered:

EU Just Transition Fund territory. This includes the entire counties of Laois, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Westmeath, and municipal districts of Ballinasloe (Co. Galway), Athy and Clane-Maynooth (Co. Kildare), and Carrick-on-Suir and Thurles (Co. Tipperary).
Policy objective:

This call falls under the EU JTF programme Priority 1: Generating Employment for former peat communities by investing in the diversification of the local economy. The specific operation concerned is Action 1.1: Foster the economic diversification of the territory by supporting productive investments in micro-enterprises, SMEs and economic stakeholders in key sectors.

Co-funded by the Government of Ireland and European Union, the EU Just Transition Fund has a single specific objective, which is to enable regions and people to address the social employment, economic and environmental impacts of the transition towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, based on the Paris Agreement.

Eligible Applicants:

Local Authorities operating in the EU Just Transition territory (see note on geographical area covered above).

Total amount of support:

In order to manage the EU Just Transition Fund budget allocation and ensure that an appropriate balance of spend is achieved in line with the overall objectives of the EU Just Transition Fund, is it at the discretion of Fáilte Ireland to place spending caps on one or more of the Schemes (B-G) during their operation, depending on the demand generated for each scheme. The total amount of funding available for Scheme B-G inclusive is €38million.

Indicative amount for this programme is €11-15 million.

Call start and end dates:

Strategic Partnership Agreements are being issued to each Local Authority in the EU Just Transition territory. An application process for eligible State Agencies will follow. This is expected to commence in early 2024.

Further information:

Announcements in relation to funding through this scheme will be on the Fáilte Ireland website.