Monaghan hopes for boost - Cavan passes on social housing grant

The announcement of a Social Housing Programme - channelling European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) into Cavan and Monaghan - was welcomed by local representatives from both counties earlier this year. However, when the deadline for applications passed in the first week of June, Cavan County Council had not submitted an application.

“That was very surprising,” admits scheme co-ordinator Bobbie Baker with the Northern & Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) who co-ordinates the EU funds.

Cavan County Council, however, has pointed out that it has 334 units in the county at various stages of planning, design or construction, and did not have a project to fit the terms of the NWRA scheme (scroll down for statement).

Trevor Smith, a councillor from Ballyjamesduff who represents Cavan as a member on the NRWA, had commented on the programme at a meeting earlier this year on what a great opportunity this would mean for County Cavan. His colleague Áine Smith had also described it as a “welcome opportunity”.

Recently, Cllr Smith had argued for a restructuring of the NWRA so that Cavan wouldn’t lose out on funds. Currently Galway inflates the GDP figures, which has led to a reclassification of the region as a whole to a “more developed” region – cutting down money from the EU in the upcoming funding period.

Regardless of the structure, local authorities still need to submit proposals. In the current funding period 2021 to 2027, Cavan County Council has not yet applied for any funding from the available €217M in ERDF schemes. It is not the only county.

To appeal more to border counties Cavan and Monaghan, Bobbie Baker explains that the Social Housing scheme was initiated after a mid-term review of the ongoing projects. “In conjunction with local authorities and rounds of consultations with them in 2025, we rolled out this new scheme in April 2026.”

A total of €34M was allocated to tackle housing issues of the “most vulnerable cohorts”. This includes social housing, housing for the elderly, disabled people, and those in danger of losing their home.

Under the scheme, vacant derelict council owned residential buildings or non-residential buildings with the purpose to be reused, have to be refurbished to a B2 energy rating and maintain the social use for 20 years.

Providing flexibility to the scope, local authorities were able to apply for a portfolio of projects, meaning the addressed premises could be in different locations. Available grants ranged from €4-12M.

Monaghan County Council identified projects across Castleblayney, Monaghan Town, Carrickmacross and Ballybay, focusing on retrofitting existing homes, tackling vacancy and repurposing public buildings.

“The application was made to address urgent housing need, improve housing standards and support town centre regeneration,” a spokesperson said.

“If successful, the funding would be a major boost, delivering new social housing, revitalising underused buildings and fast-tracking a programme of sustainable housing improvements across the county.”

The spokesperson added that the NWRA grant was seen as an additional source of funding to the Department of Housing’s Social Housing Capital Investment Programme.

Paddy Austin, Assistant Director ERDF within the NWRA, previously told the Celt they thought the grant was an ideal fit for Cavan and Monaghan: “We want to see an uptake from Cavan, particularly because they didn’t apply under THRIVE (Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme).”

No suitable properties for scheme - council

Cavan County Council says it did not apply for NWRA scheme on this occasion because it had no available properties to meet the relevant qualifying criteria.

A spokesperson said, following a review, the council determined that all suitable vacant local authority-owned buildings identified have already been included within the Department’s Social Housing Capital Investment Programme.

“Cavan County Council has 17 direct-build schemes for 334 units on local authority-owned property at various stages of planning, design or construction. None of these seventeen schemes would have met the criteria for the NWRA scheme, i.e. vacant properties in the council’s ownership that have been specifically designated for housing purposes.”

Stating that Cavan County Council is committed to dealing with vacancy and dereliction, and is willing to avail of all funding available, the spokesperson said it “fully supports” the NWRA grant scheme and will look for opportunities to avail of it in the future.