Drogheda Independent

Irish Cement community fund could hit the €480,000 mark

Calls for it to be extended to groups in a wider area

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CALLS have been made for a community grant, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of euro, be spread out around the area when the Irish Cement tonnage expansion gets underway.

As part of a new fuel programme at the factory, Irish Cement must pay money into a fund to be used locally, much the same as the Indaver Community Scheme.

Cllr Stephen McKee told the Laytown/ Bettystown area meeting that the fund could rise to €480,000 over time.

Cllr Sharon Keogan (right) raised the matter, asking that the council engage with Cement to ‘establish the legal framework’ about the fund.

‘ There is movement on it. We will bring a draft proposal back to members’, Area Manager Fiona Lawless replied.

‘Everyone wants to get their hands on funding and €480,000 is a tiny piece of their money. It’s nothing for Irish Cement to put into the community’, Cllr Keogan stated. ‘I would not favour it going out too far as the junction at the graveyard needs to be looked at and the roads around Donore.’

Cllr McKee said he supported Irish Cement’s plan as it would lessen carbon emissions but any local residents concerns needed to be met.

‘ This is a planning obligation’, Cllr Paddy Meade explained. ‘Irish Cement will be burning seven and a half times more than Indaver do.’

He again raised the issue of a bypass of Duleek and remarked that big companies think Duleek is an ‘easier’ place to get planning permission.

He added that a third major company - developing a power station in the region - was also on the way.

Eimear Ferguson said she was in favour of extending the scope of the grant scheme to include a wider area.

Making sure that lorries stick to approved routes was something Cllr Sharon Tolan felt was necessary.

Cllr Wayne Harding agreed that the scope should also be extended outside the immediate district to include ‘other community groups’.

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 ??  ?? Councillor­s Paddy Meade and Sharon Keogan
Councillor­s Paddy Meade and Sharon Keogan
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