Before you apply: the grant pre-check
Every Irish rural funder asks roughly the same six questions before they read your application. Answer them in writing first — then ring your Local Action Group.
Most failed applications were never going to succeed. The project did not fit the scheme, the applicant was not eligible, the match funding did not exist, or the planning permission did not. You can find all four of those things out for free, in an afternoon, before you write a word of an application.
Start with the free step. LEADER has an Expression of Interest stage: you tell your Local Action Group what you want to do, and they tell you whether it is eligible before you write anything long. (Leitrim Development Company, economic development) That is the whole point of it. Use it.
1. The six questions every funder asks
- What is the project? Not the idea — the thing. A building, a piece of equipment, a feasibility study, a training course. If it cannot be described in one sentence with a cost attached, the application is not ready.
- Who is the applicant? An individual, a group, a company or a community organisation. The answer decides which scheme is even open to you.
- Where is the match funding? Almost nothing is funded at 100% for capital. The balance in cash or in community resources has to be real, not hoped for.
- Is there planning permission? For anything that needs it, LEADER wants the evidence at application stage, not later.
- Have you got quotes or a tender? Capital grants are paid against procured quotes or tenders. Ring two suppliers before you ring the funder.
- What is the timeline? When the money is spent, when the claim is made, and whether that fits the scheme's own window.
2. LEADER — the best fit for a small rural project
- The money. €180 million nationally for 2023–2027, part of €250 million for 2021–2027, delivered bottom-up by 29 Local Action Groups across the CAP Strategic Plan. (Department of Rural and Community Development announcement)
- Your Local Action Group is normally your county's development company, not a government office. In Leitrim it is Leitrim Development Company, which delivers LEADER with Leitrim County Council and LCDC — contact [email protected] or 071 96 41770. (Leitrim County Council, LEADER)
- You do not need to be a co-op. Applicants can be an individual, a group or a body such as a company. (LEADER 2023–2027 information leaflet)
The published rates, from Leitrim's own LEADER booklet:
| Type of project | Grant rate | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Capital projects | Up to 75% | Up to €250,000; certain exemplar biodiversity projects up to €500,000 |
| Feasibility, analysis and development | Up to 90% | Up to €30,000 |
| Training | Up to 100% | — |
| Match funding required | At least 25% for capital (10% for analysis and development) | — |
| Procurement and planning | Procured quotes or tenders required; planning permission evidence required at application stage | — |
(Source: Leitrim Development Company LEADER booklet) (LDCO, economic development)
Recent calls show the shape of it. A Leitrim Biodiversity / Environmental / Water capital call was advertised at up to 75%, with a maximum grant between €10,000 and €500,000, and a July 2026 Expression of Interest deadline. (Leitrim Development Company funding call)
Honest flag. Leitrim's LEADER priority themes lean towards biodiversity and environment, community facilities, and youth. A commercial business fit is not guaranteed. The Expression of Interest stage is where you find that out, cheaply — and whether any current call in your county fits your project is not something this page can tell you — ask your Local Action Group directly.
3. CLÁR — real money, but the wrong purpose for most projects
- €12 million nationally for 2026, and all of County Leitrim is a designated CLÁR area. (Leitrim County Council, CLÁR) (national announcement)
- Measure 1 (community facilities and amenities): grants of €5,000–€65,000 — each county may submit two projects at up to €100,000 — at up to 90% of cost, with 10% in cash or community resources. (Leitrim CLÁR scheme outline 2026)
- Who can apply is the catch. Eligible applicants are schools, community and voluntary groups, and local development companies — not private business enterprises. Funded facilities must be publicly accessible without membership. (same source)
- The one door that may open. Leitrim's eligible-project list explicitly includes sensory gardens, community gardens and allotments. That is a community growing facility applied for through the county council — not funding for a private CSA. (Leitrim County Council, CLÁR)
- Timing. The 2026 Measure 1 Expression of Interest deadline was 4pm on Thursday 14 May 2026 — closed. The next round is not published — check this with the council. (Leitrim County Council, CLÁR 2026)
4. TAMS 3 — capital grants for farm equipment and buildings
The Organic Capital Investment Scheme (OCIS) is the relevant TAMS 3 scheme for an organic holding:
| OCIS | TAMS Solar (SCIS) | |
|---|---|---|
| Grant rate | 60% for farmers in the Organic Farming Scheme; 40% for licensed organic operators not in it | Enhanced 60% |
| Minimum investment | €2,000 per application | — |
| Maximum ceiling | €90,000 per holding, rising to €160,000 for a Registered Farm Partnership | €90,000, ring-fenced |
(Irish Organic Association, OCIS under TAMS 3) (Teagasc, Solar Capital Investment Scheme)
The TAMS catch. Higher OCIS rates go to farmers who are already in the Organic Farming Scheme — and that scheme has its own minimum-area rule. Check the four eligibility questions before you price up a TAMS application you cannot qualify for.
5. What is not worth chasing
- There is no general "CSA grant" in Ireland. No scheme by that name exists. Anyone telling you otherwise is wrong.
- European Innovation Partnership (EIP) is real money in the wrong shape for a smallholding. Calls are thematic and large — Ireland has 23 operational groups, and recent awards ran to €17.8 million across 11 projects, with a €1.75 million maximum per project under the environmental sustainability call. (CAP Network Ireland, EIP operational groups) (€17.8m award) (€1.75m ceiling) The only realistic route is being a partner or demonstration farm inside someone else's group. Whether a call is open right now is not confirmed — check this on the DAFM or CAP Network Ireland site.
- SEAI grants are household energy grants, not farm-enterprise funding. For farm renewables the relevant scheme is TAMS Solar (SCIS) above.
Cheap help that already exists: the Teagasc Signpost Programme advisory service is free and open to all farmers, with regional advisors for Sligo/Leitrim/Donegal. (Advisor numbers and the programme's scope changed during 2026, so confirm what is currently available when you ring.) (Teagasc, Sligo/Leitrim/Donegal) Paid advisory packages also exist, and Teagasc publishes its charges, from acre-based support at €260 for under 10 hectares. (Teagasc advisory charges, January 2026)
6. The pre-check form
Fill this in on one page. Do not send an application until every line is answered.
About the applicant
Name of applicant body or individual: [ ]
Type: [individual / group / company / community organisation]
Registered number, if a company or co-op: [ ]
Does the scheme allow this type of applicant at all? [yes / no / not sure — ask the funder]
About the project
What it is, in one sentence: [ ]
Is it capital (a thing or a building), feasibility or training? [ ]
Total cost, with the quotes attached: €
About the money
Grant rate sought: [ ]% — Grant amount: €
Match funding: € — from where (cash or community resources): [ ]
Is that match confirmed in writing, or hoped for? [confirmed / hoped]
About permission and procurement
Does the project need planning permission? [yes / no] — evidence attached? [ ]
Wastewater, water supply and access sorted for anything built? [ ]
How many quotes or tenders obtained? [ ]
About timing
When the money will be spent: [ ]
When the claim will be submitted: [ ]
Is the funder's call open, and what is the deadline? [ask the Local Action Group — do not assume]
The first contact
Local Action Group: [ ] — Contact: [ ] — Date of Expression of Interest: [ ] — What they said: [ ]
Write down the answer and the name of who gave it. Grant rules are applied by people, and the same question can get two answers in the same office. A one-line note with a date is worth more than any guidance document when you are arguing about it a year later.
Not legal or financial advice. Rates, ceilings and deadlines here are the published ones at the time of writing and they change several times a year. Check every figure with the funder named on this page before you rely on it, and get the eligibility answer in writing.
Free to copy, adapt and pass on.
Note: the Leitrim Development Company site (ldco.ie) was returning a server error when this page was checked. The LEADER figures come from its published booklet; if the site is down, use the archived copy.