Two Kildare groups in the running for National Lottery funding

Two Kildare organisations prepare for the upcoming National Lottery Good Causes Awards

On Saturday 29th May, Irish Peatland Conservation Council and Naas Community First Responders will compete in two different categories in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards.

The National Lottery Good Causes Awards honour the inspiring work and achievements of thousands of projects, clubs and individuals from all over Ireland who with the help of National Lottery Good Causes funding have had an extraordinary impact on their local communities. Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes all over the country.

Irish Peatland Conservation Council are finalists in the Heritage category of the Awards. The purpose of the IPCC, a charity based at the Bog of Allen Nature Centre, is to protect a representative sample of peatland habitat for people to enjoy today and into the future. Their project ‘Enhancing Breeding Habitat for the Endangered Marsh Fritillary Butterfly on Lullymore West Bog, Co. Kildare' focused on protecting Europe’s only endangered butterfly on the wet grassland habitat. Through the project, they trained 14 citizen scientists in butterfly monitoring and also introduced two donkeys to the site who enhanced the conservation of the Marsh Fritillary Butterfly.

Naas Community First Responders are a group of local volunteers who work alongside the National Ambulance Service to respond to calls of cardiac arrest, stroke, heart attack and choking. The unit were responsible for installing three outdoor Public Access Defibrillators throughout the town. Naas CFR began as a group of 6 and have since grown to a team of 18 volunteers who save lives and provide essential training to schools and businesses alike. They will compete in the Health & Wellbeing category of the Good Causes Awards.

The Awards have six categories: Sport, Health & Wellbeing, Heritage, Arts & Culture, Community and Youth. A seventh category, Irish Language, will have a special award to be announced on the night at the Awards final, in recognition of outstanding work done in the promotion of the Irish Language.

Each category winner will receive €10,000 while the overall Good Cause of the Year will get an additional €25,000 on top of this. The winners will be announced at a virtual event hosted by Grainne Seoige live from the Mansion House on Saturday 29th May.

Following the announcement of the thirty-six finalists back in February, each of the community groups, sports clubs and organisations from all over Ireland, went on to the virtual judging segment of the competition which took place on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th February. Representatives from each of the finalist groups were asked to do a short presentation remotely to the judging panel and to answer any questions that arose.

The judging panel was chaired by Nuala Carey, Lotto presenter, and also included Seamus Griffin, CEO of the Griffin Retail Group, Fergus Finlay, Columnist and Author, and Jennifer Crowe, CSR Manager of the National Lottery.

Awards Chairperson, Nuala Carey, spoke of the incredible challenge that the panel faced in deciding on winners for each of the categories: “We were in total awe of each of the 36 finalists after seeing their presentations. It’s no easy feat being asked to do a presentation remotely but each of the groups really took the task in their stride and highlighted all of the wonderful work being done in every corner of the country with the help of National Lottery Good Causes funding. Each of the finalists truly are doing amazing work within their communities and if we could give them all an award, we would! I wish all 36 finalists the best of luck on the day.”

More information on the finalists and the National Lottery Good Causes Awards can be found at www.lottery.ie/good-causes- awards/finalists

Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language. In total more than €6 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 34 years ago. In 2020 alone, €254 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.