Awards totalling £3 million have been presented to 193 groups and organisations whose projects are marking the millennium in innovative and beneficial ways. The Millennium Recognition Awards were established by the National Millennium Committee to recognise the contribution made by local communities to economic, social and cultural development in Ireland.
Making the awards in Dublin Castle yesterday, the chairman of the National Millennium Committee, Mr Seamus Brennan, said they sought to tap into the sense of uniqueness and excitement the millennium had generated and to ensure the marking of this benchmark in time was achieved in a way that was "visionary and memorable as well as lasting and rewarding".
Area Development Management Ltd was assigned responsibility to design, implement and monitor the awards scheme.
On a county-by-county basis, the awards broke down as Carlow (2), Cavan (3), Clare (7), Cork (17), Donegal (6), Dublin (40), Galway (14), Kerry (9), Kildare (5), Kilkenny (7), Laois (3), Leitrim (5), Limerick (9), Longford (4), Louth (5), Mayo (6), Meath (5), Monaghan (4), Roscommon (5), Sligo (6), Tipperary (6), Waterford (6), Westmeath (5), Wexford (4), Wicklow (6).
Among the 193 projects being funded are: £60,000 to Bere Island Project (Cork) to renovate and convert a martello tower into a heritage centre for the island which will provide space for literature and artefacts; £75,000 to Clare Haven House Project (Ennis) to furnish and equip a new refuge for victims of domestic violence; £59,700 to Balla (Co Mayo) Town Park for the planting of 2,000 Irish oak trees on the January 1st, the first Irish oaks planted in the new millennium; and £43,000 to Elphin (Co Roscommon) Area Community Enterprise Ltd to carry out renovations to the oldest restored windmill in the State.
Other awards were £32,000 to Shoot the Scattering Trust (Ennis, Co Clare), £32,000 to capture images of Clare people wherever they are and publish the results in a book of text and photographs; and £30,000 to the Franciscan Social Justice Initiative (Merchant's Quay, Dublin) for the Millennium Bridge project, designed to represent a route from the homelessness and instability to settlement and reintegration.
The Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust received £30,000 to purchase a machine which assists in rapid diagnosis.
Other awards included: £28,000 for the Galway Mountain Rescue Team to acquire and equip a suitable vehicle to use in callout situations and rescues; £27,600 to Monivea Park Residents Association (Co Galway) to restore and protect Ballybane Ring Fort, dating back to the early Christian period; and £25,750 to Wicklow Working Together Ltd to build a two-seater aircraft from a pre-supplied kit and train six early school leavers to private pilot's licence standard and fly the aircraft at the September 2000 celebrations.