More than €45,600 allocated to community groups in Longford MD

The allocation of €93,000 under the 2020 Community Grant Support Scheme was the only thing on the agenda for Longford Municipal District on Friday afternoon as councillors successfully held a remote meeting via Microsoft Teams.

The current Covid-19 crisis didn’t prevent the council from going about their business for the county and a total of €45,616 of that fund was successfully allocated to groups across the county.

With festivals up in the air at the moment - or, as Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District Cllr Seamus Butler put it, “in limbo” - the allocation of funds to events that may not go ahead due to the virus will be discussed at a later date.

“Can we revisit this later in the year if these festivals don’t go ahead ad allocate those funds elsewhere,” Cllr Martin Monaghan suggested, to agreement from his colleagues.

A large number of local groups were allocated funding as a result of last Friday’s meeting, including:

*Backstage Theatre Group, who received €3,000
*Longford Acorn Project CLG, who received €3,000
*Longford Variety Group, who received €4,000
*Longford Town Mens Shed, who received €4,500
*Newtownforbes Tidy Towns received €5,000
*Templemichael Parish Resources Ltd received €3,300.

There is still €47,384 remaining in the council coffers, which will be allocated to community groups at a later date.

Read also: ‘Historic’ day for Longford as MD council meetings move online