Our Community
Engagement approach
At FuturEnergy Ireland and MCRE, we believe in speaking to the local community right from the start and continuing this engagement throughout the entire lifetime of the wind farm.
In our experience, there is no substitute for consulting with the community early and for this reason, we commit to carrying out the design process by placing a fundamental focus on open, honest engagement.
On the ground, we have dedicated project Community Liaison Officers Kevin Donnellan and Liam Cleary. Their job is to provide information and answer your queries.
Our commitment to you
- Two dedicated project Community Liaison Officers, Kevin Donnellan and Liam Cleary, who you can contact directly via email or telephone. We welcome your feedback and comments
- An information hub held locally
- All updates added to this website
- The opportunity to meet a team specialist or consultant relevant to your query
- A full project brochure
- A Virtual Tour with a full set of photomontages
- A local community engagement clinic
Supporting a local renewable energy project comes with many benefits for the community
Community Benefit Fund
Cahermurphy West Wind Farm has the potential to bring positive benefits to local communities including a Community Benefit Fund in line with industry best practice, which is the Government’s Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).
Those living in closest proximity should be priority beneficiaries and that is why some of the fund is designated for Near Neighbour payments. However, it is important that broader community benefits apply as well.
Community Benefit Fund
The scheme mandates all RESS projects to establish a Community Benefit Fund worth €2/MWh (megawatt hour) of generated electricity for the RESS contract period.
If the project does not qualify for RESS, FuturEnergy Ireland and MCRE pledge to match these contributions.
The Government’s 'Rulebook for Community Benefit Funds under RESS' sets out how the funds should be used and managed. We intend to align all new project community benefit funds with this guidance document.
What does your community need?
When it comes to the Community Benefit Fund, communities will be at the centre of the decision-making process, which gives them the opportunity to develop a strategy to maximise the benefits.
One particular focus of the fund is to support local initiatives that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals such as home and community hall retrofits, pollinator farms, cycling paths, educational material and scholarships, and sports club activities.
Local rates contributions
Cahermurphy West Wind Farm has the potential to make a substantial contribution in annual rates payments to Clare County Council, an important contributor in exchequer funding.
This would have a positive impact on the development of local infrastructure such as roads, public transport, lighting, street cleaning, libraries, fire services, public amenities and employment.
Education
We have embedded a holistic approach to education across our community engagement programmes to encourage people to learn more about climate change, the environment and renewable energy. Schools near the Cahermurphy project area can avail of the following:
- Bosca Dúlra: These nature boxes provided by Biodiversity in Schools are a fun nature toolkit that help national school children explore biodiversity.
- Climate in a Box: A series of five interactive lessons on climate and sustainability created by Steam Education for national schools.
- 'Renewable Energy & Your Future': TY workshops led by our CLOs, with an emphasis on ‘climate jobs’. This may also be accompanied by a trip to a wind farm.
- Generation Change: Youth advocacy programme designed to help young people learn more about renewable energy in a non-formal education setting.
- Community workshops: Renewable energy workshops tailored to your community group.
“Thanks again for a lovely STEAM Education resource. I found the content and layout excellent so well done to all involved in the planning and development of these wonderful sessions."
"Our school was thrilled to be involved in this initiative and would recommend it to other schools as a way of teaching an important topic in a highly engaging way."
"This is an excellent programme for both children and teachers. It is very user-friendly with well-developed resources and a wide range of activities for the children to engage with."
"Many thanks for delivering an excellent presentation to the girls and for organising our visit to the wind farm. The girls truly loved it."
"The children loved the hands-on nature of the tasks and found the lessons both engaging and fascinating."
Have your say
It’s important for us to be good neighbours and we take this responsibility very seriously. We welcome feedback from the community throughout the lifetime of this project.
There are a number of ways you can do this:
- Speak to a Community Liaison Officer, either in person, by phone
- Email us at cahermurphywest@futurenergyireland.ie
- Arrange an online or in-person meeting with a member of the project team
- Attend a local information hub or community clinic event
