Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

RBC Brewin Dolphin proudly supporting Afloat and Irish Boating

€850k Kerry Fund Backs Coastal and Community Projects

19th December 2025
“Kerry
Kerry County Council launches the Community Support Fund 2026 at Ballylongford Parish Hall, supporting coastal, marine and community projects across the county. The fund was launched by the Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr. Michael Foley, the Director of Community, Climate Action and Operational Services, Mr. Paul Neary and the Senior Executive Officer Corporate Affairs Ms. Bridget Fitzgerald, on Friday 12th December 2025. Credit: Domnick Walsh

Community and coastal projects across Kerry are set to benefit from a new €850,000 funding call launched by Kerry County Council.

The Community Support Fund 2026 was formally launched on Friday, 12 December, by Cathaoirleach Cllr Michael Foley, Director of Service Paul Neary and Senior Executive Officer Bridget Fitzgerald.

The scheme supports voluntary and non-profit groups delivering local projects, including coastal amenities, marine-related tourism initiatives and community safety measures along Kerry’s coastline.

Eligible projects must fall within five categories. These include connected and resilient communities, environmental and amenity projects, community economic innovation, tourism and events, and local community safety initiatives.

Now in its twelfth year, the fund has distributed millions of euros to community organisations throughout the county.

“Millions have been distributed to community groups over the past twelve years through this vital funding stream,” said Cllr Foley.
“It has allowed organisations to upgrade facilities, support local projects and enhance services.”

He encouraged community and voluntary groups to submit applications as early as possible.

Applications are open to Kerry-based voluntary and non-profit organisations and must be completed online.

The closing date for applications is Monday, 19 January 2026.

Further details are available on Kerry County Council’s website.

Afloat.ie Team

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.