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Back to Blog 16 July 2025

Committed to communities: Benefit Funds in action

ESB contributes over €2 million to community initiatives across Ireland every year. Our Community Benefit Funds are a central pillar of this work, providing support to projects in the vicinity of our wind and solar farms. Read on to find out some of the ways we have helped local groups make a difference for their communities.

New life for long-standing hub in Ballyfad

For over 160 years, the community hall has been at the heart of local life in Ballyfad, a village in Co Wexford. Originally located in a schoolhouse dating from the 1800s, by 2014 the building had fallen into disrepair and a community group came together with a vision to transform the old hall into a new facility that could support modern local life.

Financing a project of this size was no mean feat for a small community like Ballyfad, but as luck would have it, Raheenleagh Wind Farm – a joint venture between ESB and Coillte – was in development near the village. Groups active in the area were invited to an information meeting on the Community Benefit Fund, with grants available for local projects over the life term of the site. The Ballyfad group successfully secured a commitment of €94,800: €7,900 per annum awarded through SECAD – which administers the funds on behalf of ESB – over 12 years.

Along with funding from Wexford County Council, parish committees, donations, and lots of hard work by community volunteers, the new community centre was brought to life – with a large main hall, a separate meeting room used for community gatherings, workshops or remote working, and kitchen facilities. All local life plays out here, with the hall used by Irish language groups, history and folklore clubs, drama and dancing classes, or youth clubs and school study groups. As Myles Carroll of the Ballyfad Hall Committee explains: “The new community hall is a focal meeting place, allowing local groups to come together and enjoy their leisure time in a modern comfortable facility.”

About the wind farm: The Raheenleagh Wind Farm is located just one kilometre away from the Ballyfad community centre. Adjacent to Croghan Mountain, the site opens out to beautiful views of six surrounding counties and over the Irish Sea – where the hills of Wales can even be seen on a clear day. Nestled in the Raheenleagh forest, a short hop from Arklow in Co Wicklow, the wind farm has been producing clean electricity since September 2016. Eleven turbines with a combined capacity of 35 Megawatts generate enough energy to power 22,500 homes each year.

In addition to the Ballyfad centre, the Community Benefit Fund has supported a range of local initiatives including an all-weather playing and training pitch for Kilanerin Ballyfad GAA Club, which is used by club members and the wider community.

 

A world-class facility for budding sports stars in Newcastle West

Back in 2015, the athletics community in Limerick’s Newcastle West joined forces in their quest for a world-class facility where budding athletes of all ages and abilities could come together and hone their skills. Fast forward eight years with a number of bumps in the road – not least a global pandemic – and the Limerick Regional Athletics Hub was officially opened in 2023.

Our Grouselodge Community Benefit Fund was among the project funders, with the committee successfully securing a €60,000 commitment over 10 years. “The multi annual commitment from the fund along with the flexible support has taken huge pressure off our committee,” said steering committee member Jim Galvin. The project also received significant support from local schools, athletics clubs, disability organisations, community games areas and the general public.

The result is a state-of-the-art athletics hub featuring an international-standard eight-lane 400m track with floodlights and an illuminated path, and dedicated space for field activities like shot put, javelin, long jump, or pole vault. “The possibilities for us as a club and for the community as a whole are endless, as our juvenile and adult members now have world class facilities where they can train to be the best athletes that they can be,” Galvin underlines.

About the wind farm: Drive half an hour south of Limerick city and you will find ESB’s Grouselodge Wind Farm, located in the townland of Kilcolman around 4km outside of Ardagh village. Its six turbines have a combined generating capacity of 15 MW – producing enough renewable electricity to power around 9,500 households annually. ​Each year, the wind farms clean energy off-sets the emissions of more than 41,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) – equivalent to removing almost 11,000 cars from the road.

 

Creating space to come together in nature in Ballyvourney

In addition to financing major construction projects like sports hubs or community centres, the Community Benefit Funds help many smaller projects make a big impact in their local area. One example is a sensory garden established in the Cork village of Ballyvourney, which received partial funding from the Grousemount Community Benefit Fund.

Sensory gardens provide green spaces with different colourful, moving or sound installations to stimulate the senses in interesting ways. Since it opened a few years ago, the garden has become a popular spot for Ballyvourney residents to come together and engage with nature. As Samantha Morton of the Ballyvourney Tidy Towns Committee explains: “The sensory garden is a wonderful addition to the local community, and we are delighted that so many people are getting the use of it since we opened it in 2021. Receiving financial support from organisations such as ESB is important for initiatives like this as they benefit all the community.”

About the wind farm: Our Grousemount Wind Farm is located in South East Kerry, between the villages of Kilgarvan, Co Kerry and Coolea in Co Cork – a short hop from the village of Ballyvourney. After securing planning permission in summer 2016, construction began a year later and the farm became operational in late 2019. The site’s 38 turbines have a joint capacity of 114 MW of electricity – that’s enough renewable power for approximately 70,000 homes. 

 

Learn more about ESB’s commitment to communities here, and find out more about our our Community Benefit Funds here including how to apply.