The annual Building Communities report from Wind Energy Ireland shows that wind farms delivered almost €550,000 worth of funding to local projects last year via community benefit funds.
Cork received the second highest amount of funding per county last year, behind only Galway. The total contribution across Ireland was more than €4.3 million.
Funding was spread across 19 counties and was used to support a variety of local projects, ranging from education initiatives and sports clubs to installing solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades for community buildings.
Among the recipients were the Cork-based Irish Community Air Ambulance, Ireland’s first and only charity-funded Helicopter Emergency Medical Service. The group was one of 37 projects to receive funding from the 2021 SSE Renewables’ Coomacheo and Curragh Community Fund of almost €120,000.
Karen O’Sullivan, key relationships manager for the Irish Community Air Ambulance, stressed the critical role it played in ensuring equal access to healthcare for patients from rural communities:
“We are delighted to be receiving funding from SSE Renewables as this will enable us to continue our services. Support like this helps us to bring hope to those most vulnerable so they can receive equal healthcare to those living near cities and major hospitals.”
Ms O’Sullivan noted the funding had come at a critical time for the service, which benefits a number of counties across Ireland: “July 2021 was one of our busiest months to date, crew were tasked to 57 separate incidents in 8 counties.”
