Case Study
A Community Response to Climate Change
Old Leighlin taking it step by step
Overview
Evidence for warming of our climate system is beyond dispute. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has reduced, and sea levels have risen as the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.
The projections of future global and regional climate change indicate that continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes to our climate. In 2019, communities across Ireland, including Old Leighlin in Co. Carlow, welcomed the Government of Ireland’s statement that communities will be central to our response to climate disruption.
Challenge
The challenge for the community leaders in Old Leighlin centred around when, how and where to start developing a sustainable local community response to climate disruption.. The community knew from experience that they would need to develop a plan to survey and document the community’s energy consumption and identify buildings and areas where alterations and improvements could be made to upgrade energy efficiency and reduce consumption in the community. They also knew that, to get this right, they would need to bring in external inputs. But who, how and at what cost?
Solution
The solution came to Old Leighlin when in 2018 their community leaders participated in a meeting hosted by Carlow County Development Partnership for community groups interested in exploring options around climate change. The positive energy in the room was palpable and with that a clear vision emerged from the meeting – to establish Old Leighlin as an energy efficient community.
But how and where would the community source the required €10,000 to engage a consultant? Carlow County Development Partnership came up with the solution – to propose a new partnership model whereby a joint application to SEAI would be made to secure the critical funding of €10,000 – and the model went a step further – what was crucial for the community was that Carlow County Development Partnership agreed to cashflow the project and as a result, totally alleviated the community of having to fund raise. This meant that the community leaders could immediately focus on developing the Energy Master Plan.
Outcomes
And they did just that. In 2020, Old Leighlin became the first community in Carlow to secure SEAI funding to develop an Energy Master Plan. Following a procurement process, Planenergy Consultants were appointed to work with the local community to undertake primary research and complete the Energy Master Plan. And that’s not all – the success of the new model of partnership was so evident to other communities that it has already been replicated with Myshall and Tullow communities.
2019
0
Number of Energy Master Plans in Carlow
2020
3
Number of Energy Master Plans in Carlow
Target
2021
5
Number of Energy Master Plans in Carlow
“We are really delighted to have got this far. The support from the community and from Carlow County Development Partnership CLG at each and every step made the difference. They supported and enabled us to focus on the next step rather than get overwhelmed by the whole project, which still seems enormous to us. I have to say that while the detail required for the application worried people within the community at the start, bit by bit we found the confidence to keep going.”
Alice O’Leary, Old Leighlin Community
