Athy to benefit from new government funding

ATHY is set to receive a share of €5m in the first phase of a new scheme which supports disadvantaged areas.

Kildare South Fine Gael TD and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has said that communities and organisations in the Athy area will be able to benefit from SÍOL, the new support programme that was launched on Wednesday 9 July.

Minister Heydon said: “The new programme to be known as SÍOL, meaning “Seed” in English, was approved by cabinet this week. It has been designed to provide funding for projects and initiatives in urban areas with a high concentration of disadvantage, delivering on a commitment in the Programme for Government. An initial allocation of €5m is available in 2026 for 15 areas which have been chosen nationwide including Athy in Co Kildare.” 

The new scheme is based on the former RAPID funding scheme and has secured capital funding of €31.5m up to 2030 in the National Development Plan.

The scheme will allow for the development of community facilities and amenities in disadvantaged areas, and has been designed from statistical information from the Central Statistical Office and Pobal’s deprivation indices, which outline levels of deprivation in urban area.

Minister Heydon continued: “The Department of Rural and Community Development will issue a call for Proposals to Local Authorities in the relevant areas who will be invited to summit projects to the Department for approval and it is expected that the successful projects will be announced in late 2026.