The EU - Supporting Your Local Community - European ...
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The EU - Supporting
Your Local Community
Ireland has been a net beneficiary from the on areas such as research, technology and
EU Budget since accession in 1973. By the innovation supporting SMEs, ICT, energy Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research
beginning of 2015, Ireland received over efficiency and education, training and labour and Innovation programme ever with
€72.5 billion. However, this does not include activation measures. Additional funding nearly €80 billion of funding available
payments made directly to beneficiaries, such opportunities will arise under the Horizon over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition
as research receipts. 2020, Erasmus, Connecting Europe and to the private investment that this
Cosme EU level programmes which cover money will attract. It promises more
The majority of Irish funding from the EU
research, education, infrastructure networks breakthroughs, discoveries and world-
has come through the Common Agricultural
and SME competitiveness and a number of firsts by taking great ideas from the
Policy (CAP), providing direct income and
other smaller programmes. laboratory to the market.
market support to the agricultural sector. In
2015, Structural Funds provided €150m and With this support from Europe, Ireland is
the European Social Funds contributed over continuing to develop a clean, innovative and
€24m towards education and training, social highly skilled economy, providing world-class
inclusion and supports for vulnerable sectors leadership and competitiveness in areas such
of Irish society. as IT, Research and Technology. Furthermore,
Irish farmers are producing high-quality
For the 2014-2020 Programme, the
products for world markets, with a reputation
majority of Irish funding will continue to
for excellence.
come through CAP and Ireland can also still
expect to receive significant receipts under This information leaflet provides an insight
structural fund spending. As in recent years, into some of the ways that the EU has
structural funding will continue to focus recently supported County Westmeath.
Ireland has been awarded a total of
€273.3m for 622 participations and 472
projects. In recent years, local Westmeath
companies and institutions have availed
of funding and the county continues to
benefit from this.
Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT)
and Clean Communications Ltd, an
SME based in Naas, County Kildare, are
partners in a €4.7m project that involves
Information Driven Cyber Security
Management.
The project runs for three years beginning
in September 2016 and involves 10
partners from 8 European countries
Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) Continued on next page...
...continued from previous page
produces negligible sludge volumes, presents
a compact design, requires no heat input or
biogas recirculation, and produces effluent
of urban wastewater directive (UWWD)
standard.
Another Westmeath company is a partner in a
cloud computing €5.1m project. Geographical
Infrastructure Solutions, based at the
Midlands Innovation and Research Centre
in Athlone, are involved in maximising the
capacity of small devices. Most things we
rely on in our everyday life contain sensors
and electronic-based information and have
enough computing power to run embedded
software applications which connect to the
Internet and clouds to get access to virtually
Electronics inside a CanSat
unlimited resources. However, most software
including universities such as the Technical NVP Energy presents the first to market, applications do not fully utilise their capacity
University of Darmstadt in Germany and the high-rate Advertising Technology (AD) that and result in the devices having limited uses.
University of Oxford UK. successfully treats low strength wastewater This project addresses eliminating these
(WW) at ambient temperatures. The low- limitations, by allowing developers to easily
Cyber crime prevention is a growth industry
temperature anaerobic digestion (Lt-AD) exploit a set of heterogeneous platforms such
with an estimated cost to the world economy
process provides a novel solution to Food as mobile devices, sensors and smart objects,
of over $400 billion annually. Cyber crime
and Drinks industrial sectors, which produce in the design of their cloud-based services.
escalation has created a massive technology
large volumes of WW. The Lt-AD technology
race between attacker and defender.
PROTECTIVE which is a cyber crime prevention
tool, will focus on ways to get the right
EU Life Programme
information to the right people quickly, so
they can prioritise and combat these attacks
before they cause any real harm.
CanSat PRESERVING IRISH BOGS
CanSat is a European Space Agency Westmeath is to benefit from a new
competition for 2nd Level Students (transition project worth over €5.4 million for the
year and upwards) run by the European restoration of Active Raised Bog in
Space Education Resource Office Ireland in Ireland’s Special Area of Conservation
association with Cork Electronic Industries Network.
Association and Institutes of Technology
including AIT. The project, which is operating from
2016 to 2020, seeks to improve the
A CanSat is a simulation of a real satellite, conservation status in Ireland of active
built inside an empty soft drink can. AIT is raised bog, a priority habitat under the
a regional partner in this competition and Habitats Directive, using best practice
recently hosted the regional competition at conservation actions. The project will
the college. support the restoration of active raised
Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) is also bog in 12 sites throughout Ireland,
involved in a project on the investigation including the Garriskil Bog in Westmeath. Cranberries and Lichen at Garriskil Bog,
of the implications for Ireland of emerging County Westmeath - Photo, Fiona MacGinty
standards on pharmaceuticals in receiving
waters. There has been growing EU concern
about the release of emerging micro
pollutants and untreated pharmaceutically
active chemicals into the aquatic environment,
particularly at wastewater treatment plants. Urban Development
33 pharmaceutically active chemicals have
been listed as priority hazardous substances
for removal, due to their risk to human and Funding of €1.5m was awarded for and creating improved public spaces. Other
animal health and the aquatic environment. enhancement works in Mullingar. This works will take place at Pearse Street-Castle
will include improvement works, such as Street junction, Market Square and Dominic
NVP Energy in Mullingar, are partners in a
pedestrianising some areas of the town Square.
project that has been awarded almost €2.5m.
announced as overall winner of the 2016
Supporting SMEs
Local Enterprise Showcase Awards. The
LEOs initiative is aimed at supporting the
Irish Craft and Design sector. The awards
highlight excellence and innovation amongst
the talented LEO supported craft makers and
designers taking part in Showcase, Ireland’s
International Creative Expo.
Brendan and his wife, Kasia, started the Irish
luxury tech bag and accessory company,
My Name is Ted, two years ago.
Student Enterprise
Secondary school students throughout
County Westmeath participated in The
Student Enterprise awards programme 2016.
Students brainstormed to create feasible
business ideas, and then endeavoured to turn
their ideas into a profitable business. They
were supported by the business coach Rob
Marr from Catalyst.
The schools that reached the Student
Enterprise County Final were Athlone
Community College, Moate Community
Caonach Cliste, Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone. Winners of the First Prize in the Student Enterprise County Final. College, Loreto College Mullingar, Our
Lady’s Bower Athlone, Scoil Mhuire CBS and
New EU developments aim to support mentoring, financial supports and cross-
Mercy Secondary School, Kilbeggan.
entrepreneurship and innovation among SMEs border business advice, as well as links to the
to drive new firm creation, expansion and Enterprise Europe Network. The LEO also The winners were: -
employment and to help with the need to runs a network for Women in Business. The
First Prize, Senior Category went to Caonach
overcome a range of operational barriers. LEO also promotes a Westmeath Tourism
Cliste, from Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone.
Strategy, in conjunction with Westmeath
Westmeath has one Local Enterprise Office
County Council. First Prize, Intermediate Category was
(LEO) delivering the Entrepreneurship in
awarded to Eye Spy, Scoil Mhuire CBS,
Micro-enterprise scheme that in Mount
Local Enterprise Awards Mullingar
Street, Mullingar. The LEO supplies business
information and advice clinics, training and Brendan McEvoy, a talented Westmeath The Junior Category was won by Easy Light,
leather designer from Mullingar, was Moate Community College.
Helping Rural Development
More than €1.6 billion was paid to over an average payment of €13,820 which is
130,000 Irish farmers last year under a the 13th largest in the country. Westmeath
variety of EU agriculture schemes. Currently, farmers received almost €35m in Single
Irish farmers receive EU funding of Payments alone.
€1.2 billion every year through CAP
Rural areas receive other supports including
funding and since 2007, Irish farmers have
the Rural Development Programme as
received over €12 billion. Further support
well as through investment in towns and
of €2.3 billion was received through rural
villages and through structural programmes.
development programmes, with a further
The Leader Initiative continues to support
€2.2 billion secured for the 2014-2020
communities, tourism, local businesses as
period. In recent years, these programmes
well as towns and villages. Westmeath
accounted for around 90% of our total EU
Community Development Ltd, was awarded
public sector receipts. In 2015, total CAP
over €1.m in funding in 2015 and Westmeath
payments of over €46.2m were distributed
has been allocated over €7.38m for the
to 3,352 recipients in Westmeath, giving
2014-2020 programme.
them to cope better with the challenges of
Education & Youth
economic crisis, explore new opportunities of
growth and participate fully to connect to the
EU Single Market. Irish Rural Link has teamed
up with partners in Greece, Italy, Macedonia,
Spain and Belgium, as well as with NUI
Maynooth.
AIT is a participating higher education
institution in Erasmus+ and has been
awarded an AIT Erasmus Charter for Higher
Education 2014-2020 to support student and
teacher mobility.
Mullingar Employment Action Group (MEAG)
is a community organisation formed to help
tackle unemployment in the region. MEAD
was awarded over €277k for the project
named CRUCIAL.
CRUCIAL Crowd Funding is designed to
inform all the different stakeholders who
can potentially benefit from this innovative
means of funding business ventures. The
project is gathering information on the
current market conditions regarding the
growth of Crowd Funding in certain countries
Students participating in Erasmus | Athlone Institute of Technology and amalgamating this into a pan-European
vision.
A strong emphasis is being put on supporting Youthreach The key groups seeking Crowd Funding are
employment and social inclusion for youth. Youthreach is an education, training and primarily SME’s, they include start-ups,
The EU Youth Programme is strongly focused work experience programme for early school social enterprises and the Crowd funders are
on helping the unemployed to return to the leavers, aged 15 – 20. It offers young entrepreneurs looking to support business
labour market, with particular attention to people the opportunity to identify options investment.
youth and long-term unemployed people. within adult life, and provides them with
Westmeath shares an Education and opportunities to acquire certification. There Food Dudes
Training Board (ETB) with Longford and are two Youthreach centres available in
Food Dudes is a programme that encourages
has Administration Offices in Marlingstown Westmeath, one is in Kilbeggan and the other
children to eat more fruit and vegetables
Business Park, Mullingar. The ETB offers a is located in Delvin.
both in school and at home. It is ultimately
range of support services to residents of Erasmus+ provides funding to Irish designed to enable children to enjoy eating
Westmeath. educational organisations to carry out a wide healthy diets and to create a healthy
range of projects involving staff, learners eating culture within schools. 90 schools in
Special Project to Assist and the wider educational community. Westmeath are currently participating in this
Disadvantaged Youth (SPY) Recent figures show that there were 4,714 healthy initiative.
The SPY project offers grants in respect participants from Ireland, which was a 9%
of special out-of-school projects for increase since last year.
disadvantaged young people. Priority is Irish Rural Link received Erasmus funding to
given to projects in special youth work run a two-year programme, which will deliver
initiatives, young homeless people, young innovative and supportive education for
substance abusers and young Travellers. entrepreneur and craft leaders in rural areas.
Grants are allocated to organisations and Micro and crafted type enterprises, as well
groups for specific projects that seek to as other target groups will benefit from this
address the needs of young people who are programme in terms of increased access to
disadvantaged. improved support services that will empower
For further information please contact:
The European Commission Representation in Ireland
Tel: 01 6341111 Email eu-ie-info-request@ec.europa.eu
www.euireland.ie www.facebook.com/EUIreland www.twitter.com/eurireland
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