24 Aug 2022

The Irish goventment have announced that they are investing close to €6 million to develop 200 outdoor adventure projects across rural Ireland. 

A recent statement from Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys published on Gov.ie said 

“Over the last number of years my Department has provided unprecedented investment in our outdoor amenities, underpinned by our most ambitious rural development policy in decades – ‘Our Rural Future’. Outdoor recreation tourism is a growing sector internationally, and has the potential to have major economic spin-off benefits for our rural towns and villages. My Department is at an advanced stage of developing the new National Outdoor Recreation Strategy which will underpin this investment and give it a platform for further growth.”"

The 2021 Outdoor Recreation and Infrastructure Scheme is focused on developing rural Ireland’s unique natural amenities and support the adventure tourism sector in rural communities.

In partnership with Fáilte Ireland, a funding of €14 million for outdoor recreation projects and investment has been announced under this scheme. This fund will support the development of outdoor pursuits and adventure activities such as hiking/mountaineering, cycling, horse-riding, canoeing/kayaking, swimming, surfing, sailing, rock-climbing, fishing, paragliding and hang-gliding.

Our Rural Future is the whole-of-government policy for rural Ireland for the period 2021-2025 It represents a new milestone in the approach to rural development policy for Ireland and adopts a more strategic, ambitious and holistic approach to investing in and maximising opportunities for rural areas

The Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) provides funding as follows:

Measure 1: Small scale repair/development/promotion and marketing (up to €30,000 grant available)

Measure 2: Medium scale upgrade and new trail/amenity development (up to €200,000 grant available)

Measure 3: Large scale repair/upgrade and new strategic trail/amenity development (up to €500,000 grant available)

Project Development Measure: Development costs for strategic large scale Measure 2 or Measure 3 type projects e.g. detailed design, preparation for the planning and/or procurement, appropriate assessment etc. (up to €50,000 grant available)

Read full article on Gov.ie